


Snowstorm

by Cowboy_Sneep_Dip



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dating, Domestic Fluff, Drama & Romance, Drinking, F/F, First Kiss, First Meetings, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Suicide attempt, Minor making out, OKAY real content tags out of the way this ones cute i promise, Severa; attachment issues? unheard of, graphic depictions of cuddling, im so sorry I promise this is fluff, its 90 percent fluff i just wanted a cutesy domestic au, magic-free au, raising your gay lover's child, sorry robin isn't actually a jerk but he is in this, the only magic is the healing magic of lesbian love, to borrow a tag:
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-04-24 19:25:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 46,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14362026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cowboy_Sneep_Dip/pseuds/Cowboy_Sneep_Dip
Summary: “She has a WHAT?!” Kjelle nearly spit out a mouthful of cereal.“A kid,” Severa pulled a half-empty jug of milk from the fridge. She unscrewed the cap, sniffed, and took a swig. She wiped her mouth. “It’s not a big deal. How was your thing, though?"---To say Severa struggles in the dating world might be an understatement. Between her sharp tongue, her pessimistic attitude, and her baggage-claim worth of issues, finding someone willing to put up with her is easier said than done. But the last person she expects to like her back is a tall, beautiful stranger with a mysterious past.





	1. Chapter 1

Severa tugged out her hairties and redid them. Again. She squinted at herself in the mirror. She undid her hairties a third time and sifted through her accessory drawers. She withdrew two black ribbons. She tied her hair up again, this time with neat little bows. She grimaced.

She emerged into the living room, scarlet hair splayed across her back. She held up her hands, sets of ribbons in each.

“What do you think?” she asked. “Black or gold?”

Her roommate, flopped out on the couch, tilted her head backwards to get a better look. “Whatever you pick, make it quick. You do realize you’re supposed to meet her in like twenty minutes, right?”

“I know!” Severa moaned. “Come on, Kjelle!”

Kjelle sat up, rotating ninety degrees and flopping her bare feet down onto the hardwood floor of their apartment. “Come here,” she gestured at Severa, who complied. “Let me help.”

“I can do it,” Severa said defensively, pulling her ribbons back against her chest. “I just need help picking the color. Which goes with my dress better?”

“Well,” Kjelle said somewhat impatiently. “It’s a black dress. So…either.”

“Kjelle!” Severa groaned.

“Jeez,” Kjelle laughed, pushing herself off the couch and crossing the living room. “You’re really nervous about this one, aren’t you?”

Severa pouted. “No,” she lied. “It’s just…I want things to go well,” she finally said, softly. She didn’t need to remind Kjelle of her less-than-stellar dating history. Well, maybe not _dating,_ per se. That term kind of implied anyone ever met her a second time. She fingered the black silk ribbons pensively.

“Hey,” Kjelle said, setting one hand on each of Severa’s shoulders. She was a massive girl, at least a head taller than her roommate, and Severa refused to tilt her head up to match her gaze. She looked up through her bangs shamefully, head bowed.

“Look at me,” Kjelle said. “You’re gonna do great. It’ll be fine. Okay?” Severa nodded slightly. “Attagirl,” Kjelle grinned. “Go with gold.”

 

-

 

It was a chilly night. Severa could see her breath crystalizing in the dark night air in front of her mouth, great clouds of white that puffed out in time with her nervous breathing.

She resisted the urge to fuss with her cellphone. She chose instead to pick at a patch of peeling leather on her purse, scraping her nail across it over and over, hoping that somehow this ritual might change the inevitable outcome of this date.

_High-maintenance._

_Needy._

_Selfish._

_Crazy_.

She tried not to let the insults get to her – after all, she knew how she was. She made no attempt to lie to herself about what she wanted out of a relationship. Kjelle had chastised her for it repeatedly.

“You know, girls don’t usually go for someone who’s talking marriage on the first date.” Kjelle had prodded her.

“It wasn’t _marriage!_ ”

“Oh? What was it, then?”

“I just asked her if she ever…um…planned on moving anywhere. And how I could go with her if she-“

“GOD! On the _first date_?”

Severa’s cheeks burned as she picked at her purse. It wasn’t her fault she was like this. She tended to blame her mother. Perfectionism at its finest: planning for every outcome, every eventuality, every possibility. But if there’s one thing internet dates hated more than attachment issues, it was _mommy issues_. God, she hoped this would go well. No talking about the future. No talking about her past failures in the dating world. No talking about her mother. No yelling. Normal things. Talk about _normal_ things.

So that left what? Her shitty secretary job? Her total absence of friends outside of Kjelle and Noire? Severa sighed. She could probably dredge up some funny anecdotes about them, right? Hopefully?

“Hey!” a voice knocked her from her self-pitiful wallowing. She looked up. Oh gods, here we go again.

A young woman approached her, a tall girl with long navy hair. She was dressed rather plainly in a high-waisted black skirt and a button-down shirt underneath a knee-length black coat. A red and blue scarf was wrapped around her neck and she had stuck her hands in her pockets to ward off the chill. “Severa, right?” she said as she approached.

“Y-yeah.” Severa felt blood rushing in her ears. She had seen pictures of Lucina, of course. They had talked a bit online, but she still hadn’t expected her to be so…

_Beautiful_.

“Yeah,” Severa repeated. “I’m…” she trailed off. “Lucina?” she confirmed.

Lucina laughed and held out her hands in admission of guilt. “Yeah, that’s me.”

_Holy hell she’s so pretty I’m going to die. I’m dead. I’m dead. I’m going to bring up something weird and she’s_ -

“Shall we?” Lucina gestured to their destination, a brightly-lit restaurant. Severa nodded.

Severa had been to this exact restaurant four times. The first two ended in total, unmitigated disaster. The first she wound up in the bathroom scrubbing alfredo sauce from her date’s shawl, and the second she was politely asked to leave by the wait staff after a particularly…acerbic remark. Acerbic and loud. The third time was a little better, though her date did excuse herself to the bathroom and didn’t come back. And the fourth time the waiter recognized her, and she hurried through the date as quickly as possible to avoid anything embarrassing happening. Nothing did, but her date never called her back.

But that did they always say? First date should be somewhere familiar.

Severa unbuttoned her jacket and the two slid into a booth, her mind racing. Normal things. Talk about something _normal_.

“Are you alright?” Lucina asked as they settled into their seats.

“Huh? Yeah,” Severa nodded. She wished she had picked the black ribbons. “Sorry, it was a long day at work.”

“Oh?” Lucina picked up the wine menu. “Sorry to use the cliché, but what do you do? I don’t think you mentioned on your profile.”

“I didn’t,” Severa said, doing her best to not sound glum. “I’m…uh…an administrative assistant. Answering phones, filing stuff, that sorta thing. Not very exciting, sorry.”

Lucina waved her hand. “Hey, whatever you have to do, right?”

Severa nodded. “Something like that.”

Lucina’s warm smile melted as she pored over the wine menu. She stared at it, slowly turning the beige parchment pages. She fell silent as she read. Then she closed the menu and set it aside.

“Oh, did you want to order wine?” Severa asked. “I’m paying, so you can get whatever.”

Lucina waved her off. “No, no. Don’t worry about it.” She smiled again. “How about an appetizer instead?”

_Okay_ , Severa told herself. _A little awkward, but nothing you can’t handle. It’s fine. She’s nice enough. And…oh god she’s gorgeous. I hope I’m not staring._

She was, though. She stared the entire evening, enraptured with Lucina’s beauty. The sway of her hair when she got excited about something, the soft curve of her jaw, her deft, slender fingers. How she totally _rocked_ that outfit. Her sparkling blue eyes. Everything. Severa never wanted the evening to end. She could have sat and stared for hours, could have listened to her read the goddamn phonebook just to hear that voice sing for a little bit longer.

Severa didn’t believe in love at first sight, but if it existed, this was _it_.

The awkwardness of the evening dissolved into Severa’s wineglass. They chatted, they laughed. Severa dredged up some funny story about Noire getting annoyed at the geese in the park and taking it upon herself to ‘silence them for good’. Lucina talked a bit about herself, though she seemed pretty scant about her personal life – while Severa did briefly dip into a rant about her mom’s ridiculous expectations for her, Lucina barely mentioned her parents at all. Her father worked for the city, and…that was about it, actually.

But it didn’t matter. It was an evening full of food and laughter and music and Severa slowly getting wasted on sauvignon blancs while a sober Lucina giggled in amusement. Severa didn’t want the evening to end.

They emerged from the restaurant into the cool night air, the winter chill feeling wonderful on Severa’s flushed cheeks. She stuck her hands in her jacket pocket.

A brief pause after a bout of laughter brought the gravity of the night into focus.

“So…” Severa said. She tried to stop the street from spinning.

“So.”

“I guess we should get going, huh.”

Lucina checked her phone. “Y-yeah, sorry. I should really be getting back.”

“Are you going to take a bus, or a cab, or-“

Lucina waved her off. “I’ll walk. It’s just a couple blocks.”

Severa saw her chance and seized it. “I’ll walk you!” she stammered before her brain caught up to her mouth.

“Oh, no,” Lucina said. “You don’t have to!”

Severa tried to play it cool. “No, really. I’m pretty sure my roommate has a date over, so the longer I spend out the lower my chance of seeing something I don’t wanna see, you know?”

Lucina laughed. “Okay, okay.”

Snow fell gently from the night sky, drifting in great white flakes as they walked through the city streets, pink noses tucked into scarves, hands buried in pockets. For a brief second Severa wondered how warm it would have been to hold her hand. She shook her head, snowflakes scattering from her scalp. Lucina was telling some story, something rather amusing about some weird past date that had ended awkwardly.

Severa couldn’t have been more surprised. How could _anyone_ let Lucina get away? This was…this was wife material! Severa felt her heart catch in her chest. No. She had promised Kjelle she wouldn’t do this again. She laughed at the conclusion to Lucina’s story. She didn’t even notice as the two of them ascended the stairs up to Lucina’s apartment.

“Well, here we are,” Lucina said somewhat sheepishly as they stopped in front of her door. Severa snapped back to the real world.

It was a second-floor apartment in a rather plain building made of red brick. In contrast to Severa’s tower apartment, this place seemed downright quaint. Paint was peeling from the wooden railings and the outdoor carpet along the walkway had seen better days. Maybe ‘quaint’ was generous. ‘Squalid’ seemed rude, though. It reminded Severa a bit of a motel. She was surprised.

“Oh,” she said. The haze of wine still burning in her cheeks, she leaned against the door. Lucina looked so beautiful, the exterior of her apartment be damned. Maybe it was nicer on the inside. Maybe she could find out.

“So,” Severa said, grinning. “Gonna invite me in for a drink?”

Lucina laughed as she fished for her keys. “I don’t think so.”

“Coffee?”

Lucina fingered her keyring nervously. “Um, no. I really…” she smiled. “I had a really nice time tonight, Severa. If it’s okay, I’d love to see you again.”

Her words hit Severa like a cement truck. “Uh…” she fumbled. “Y-yeah! Yeah, of course! Me too! I mean, I’d love to see you again, if you want.” She felt her cheeks burning, and this time it certainly wasn’t just the alcohol. “Yeah, for sure!”

“Great,” Lucina smiled again, warmly. Severa felt her heart melt. She could stare at that smile all night. “I’ll call you tomorrow, oka-“

Before she could finish her sentence, the door creaked open. Severa stumbled backwards, almost falling into the apartment.

She looked from Lucina to the door. Then back to Lucina.

“Mama?” a small voice slipped through the cold night. A young girl, no older than four, stood in the doorway, rubbing her eyes with a tiny balled fist. In her other hand, a stuffed dragon trailed to the ground. Her white hair was mussed and feathery.

Severa sobered up instantly. She looked at Lucina and to the child again. “Oh!” she blurted. “Oh, you…I mean, uh…” she stared at the child. “You…?”

Lucina was blushing deeply, frozen with fear.

“I heard you tawking,” the child said softly.

Lucina looked apologetically at Severa. “Um…maybe you should come in.”

 

-

 

Lucina sat down on the couch next to Severa, passing a warm mug of coffee to her. Severa wrapped her hands around it and sniffed. The apartment felt drafty, and she welcomed the warmth the mug brought. She wasn’t actually much for coffee, but she wasn’t going to do anything to upset the taut atmosphere.

“Sorry about the cold,” Lucina said. “The heater’s been broken, and I haven’t had a chance to get it repaired.”

Severa shrugged.

Lucina rubbed her temples. “Sorry,” she said again, softly.

“For what?”

“I mean, usually when people have kids they kinda put that on their profile. When I did, though, I really…didn’t get any responses.”

Severa let out a short, good-natured huff. “You know, at least you look like your picture. At least you weren’t a _dude_!”

Lucina smirked. “That’s happened to you?”

Severa nodded, raising her eyebrows meaningfully as she sipped her coffee.

“It’s a lesbian dating site!” Lucina said incredulously.

“I _know!_ ” Severa laughed. “Can you believe the shit people pull? He said something about ‘wanting to show me what it was like’. What an asshat.”

“God, I can’t imagine.”

They sat in silence as Severa sipped her coffee. She had been right – the apartment was nicer on the inside. Still small, still quaint, but a cozy little place. A two-bedroom affair, complete with a half-kitchen and a decently sized living room. She couldn’t help but let her gaze linger on the pile of picture books on the coffee table.

“So,” Lucina said.

“She yours?” Severa asked quietly.

Lucina nodded. “Yeah.”

“How old is she?”

“Four.”

“Sorry, I don’t know…a lot about kids. What…” Severa stopped herself from asking what level the baby was. “She can read?”

Lucina nodded again. “A bit, yeah. Talk, walk, the whole deal.”

“She’s cute.”

“Morgan.”

“Huh?”

“Her name is Morgan.”

The tension was palpable. It was almost enough to make Severa wish she hadn’t walked Lucina home. Almost, but not quite.

“And…the dad?”

Lucina shrugged. “Dead, for all I care.”

“Jeez,” Severa said, taken somewhat aback. “Didn’t end well, I’m guessing.”

Lucina gestured to the apartment, sans father. Severa conceded her point.

Severa exhaled, the reality of it setting in. Lucina hadn’t listed her age on her profile, but she couldn’t have been older than twenty-three or twenty-four. Maybe twenty-five. Dating was hard enough for _her_ , and she just had a weirdo roommate.

Something occurred to Severa. “No babysitter?” she asked.

Lucina rested her face in her hands. “She’s…she’s a smart kid. She can take care of herself.”  

Severa stared at the books on the coffee table. It made sense, finally. Lucina’s plain clothes, the shitty apartment, the bargain-priced coffee. Why she looked so tired at dinner, even through her bright smiles and her laughter.

“Lucina, I-“ Severa started to speak at the same moment Lucina did.

“I’m sorry,” Lucina said again. “Maybe…maybe you should just go.”

“Lucina,” Severa said softly. She set her empty mug on a corkboard coaster on the coffee table and turned to face her. “I don’t care, okay?”

“What?”

“I had an amazing time tonight, and…I still want that second date, okay?”

 

-

 

“She has a _WHAT?!_ ” Kjelle nearly spit out a mouthful of cereal.

“A kid,” Severa pulled a half-empty jug of milk from the fridge. She unscrewed the cap, sniffed, and took a swig. She wiped her mouth. “It’s not a big deal. How was your thing? You get laid?”

“It was fine,” Kjelle said. “And I _did_ , not that it’s any of your business. Hold on, don’t change the subject! You can’t just drop something like that on someone!”

 Sunlight streamed through the window into their apartment, bright and glowing from a city blanketed in snow. Severa stood in front of the fridge, half-naked in just her tank top and underwear, sifting for breakfast. “I said it’s not a big deal,” she said. “And it’s not.”

“Woah, woah. What the fuck? How is that _not_ a big deal? A kid? Like, a baby? A human baby?”

“I didn’t think to check that she’s human,” Severa sat down heavily at the table. “Yeah she’s a human, asshole.”

Kjelle held up her hands defensively. “How old is she, anyway?”

“The kid? Four.”

“No, not the kid. Your date. Lucy-whatsername.”

“Lucina. I dunno…twenty-something?”

“Twenty-something like twenty-nine, or like twenty-two?”

Severa shrugged.

“God, you finally manage to land a second date, and it’s with a single mother.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Severa shot her a glare.

“You’re twenty-two, Severa. Isn’t it…I dunno, a little early to be tying yourself down?”

“Who said anything about tying myself down? _You_ were the one who told me to play it cool. It’s just a second date.”

Her cellphone buzzed on the table and she nearly bolted across the kitchen to snatch it up. She glared at it, tossing it back to the table. Kjelle laughed.

“Excited to hear back from her?”

“Yeah,” Severa admitted. “She was super cool, the whole kid thing aside.”

“That’s a pretty big thing to set aside.”

“ _You’re_ a pretty big thing to set aside.”

Kjelle laughed and crossed the kitchen, depositing her empty bowl into the sink. “Alright, Sev. It’s your life. I’m gonna go get dressed for work.”

Severa watched her disappear into her room. She looked at her phone. It was a pretty big thing, she forced herself to admit. You can brush over something like a shit job or goofy hair. A kid was serious business. She looked around her apartment.

Their place was hip, sparsely decorated, but definitely a bit of a bachelorette pad. Discarded beer cans adorned the TV, a tangle of video game console cords littered the entertainment center, the couch was covered with a fine sprinkling of tortilla chip crumbs. She looked at the half-naked-woman-of-the-month calendar on the fridge, marked with such momentous events as “Concert!!!” and “B-fast with mom” and “PAY RENT, DIPSHITS”. She rested her head on the table. This was no place for a kid.

But it didn’t need to be, right? It was just dating. It wasn’t serious. And if it became serious, well…that was a problem for future-Severa.

Her phone buzzed and she snatched it up.

“Hello?” she asked, trying to conceal her excitement.

“Hey!” Lucina’s voice came through loud and clear. “I wondered if you’d be up this early.”

Kjelle’s head poked out of her room. She flashed Severa a thumbs up, and she received a middle finger in return.

“Yeah, I have work at nine, so I usually get up around now,” Severa explained.

“Great, I’m glad I caught you! Would you want to go see a movie tonight?”

“Sure!” Severa said before even thinking to ask what movie. “Absolutely! What time were you thinking?”

“I’m off at seven,” Lucina replied. “How about the theater on Sixth at eight?”

“Sounds great.” Severa hoped her broad smile wasn’t noticeable in her voice.

“Oh, and Severa?” Lucina added. “Morgan said she thinks you’re cute.”

Severa couldn’t stop a giggle from spilling out. “Tell her I think she’s cute, too.”

“Will do. See you tonight, okay?”

 

///

 

Severa tucked her nose into her scarf, exhaling to warm herself up. It was a chilly day and the park was blanketed in a thick cover of fresh snow. She leaned back into the wooden bench, tilting her head slightly to keep her long red pigtails from dipping into the snow. The sky was clear blue overhead.

The past weeks had gone by almost startlingly quickly. Even her job seemed to suck less, knowing that she was always hours away from talking with her, from seeing her. Her entire world seemed brighter. God damn was she in love. She had it so bad. Kjelle had soundly mocked her for it, but she didn’t care. She was in love and she was so fucking gay and all she wanted to do was be with Lucina.

“Be careful, Morgan!” Lucina’s voice rang out next to Severa. She looked up to see the bundled-up toddler waddling across the playground. Lucina turned back to Severa. “But anyway, you were saying?”

Lucina didn’t get a lot of time off. She worked two jobs, an office temp job during the day and a retail job in the evenings and on weekends. Severa thought she sold office supplies, but she wasn’t quite sure. But between two jobs and raising a kid, this sort of moment was rare – a free afternoon on a beautiful Saturday, and Severa was lucky enough to share it with her.

“Sevwuh.”

Severa looked up to see Morgan holding her hands out, offering something. It was a small, rough stone she must have found in the park.

Severa laughed and took it. “Thank you, Morgan. I’ll treasure it always.”

“And what do we say, Morgan?” Lucina asked.

“You’re wewcome!” Morgan beamed.

“Come here,” Lucina tugged her gently towards her and fussed with her jacket, fixing her collar, brushing snow from her lapel, straightening her hat. Severa smiled as she watched.

“Hey, Morgan,” Severa said, calling the four-year-old’s attention. “Did you mama ever show you how to make a snowball?”

“No!” Lucina protested, giggling. “Do _not_ teach her to throw snowballs!”

“Snowbaw?” Morgan asked curiously.

“Here, like this,” Severa bent over, pulling a pile of snow from the ground. She packed it into a tight ball. “You gotta pack it real tight.” She held out the ball to Morgan, who accepted it curiously. She lifted it to her mouth and took a bite.

“Agh!” she cried. “Cold!”

Lucina and Severa collapsed into a fit of laughter.

“No!” Severa shook her head. “No, it’s not for eating! Look,” she packed another one. “Morgan, look. See, you throw them!” she stood up and threw the ball in a clean arc. It sailed through the air and landed with a solid thud against a tree trunk.

Morgan watched in amazement.

Severa did it again. “See? Now you try.” She made another snowball and gave it to Morgan, who thankfully didn’t try to eat it. She tried to throw, but her stubby little arms didn’t manage more than a short toss. “Let’s move a bit closer,” Severa suggested.

Lucina watched them play in the snow. Morgan never did quite get a handle on proper snowball throwing techniques, but she was young. She had time.

“Hey, Morgan,” Severa whispered conspiratorially. “Watch this.” She made a loosely packed snowball and turned, tossing it in a lazy arc at Lucina. Direct hit.

Snow splattered on her black coat and she cried out in surprise.

Morgan cackled gleefully and tried to throw one as well.

“Why, you!” Lucina leapt up and returned a throw, a snowball clipping Severa’s leg. She feigned pain and staggered, falling to the ground next to Morgan.

“Oh, ow!” Severa cried out dramatically. “Ouch!”

“Oh, no!” Lucina fell for it hook, line, and sinker. She hurried towards them. “Oh gosh, Severa, I’m so sorry!”

“Not _yet_ you aren’t!” Severa swung her legs out and swiped Lucina’s out from under her, sending her sprawling into the snow.

“Eep!” Lucina cried. “Cold! Cold!”

Morgan clapped and laughed.

In retaliation, Lucina scooped up an armful of snow and tossed it at Severa.

“You got it in my hair!” she protested.

“Well you got snow down my jacket!”

Severa laughed and tackled Lucina into the snow. The two of them landed softly in a thick snowbank. They were both still laughing, stuck prone in a fit of giggles.

Severa caught her breath first and laid down heavily, resting her head on Lucina’s chest. She realized with a jolt of horror what she was doing. She rolled and tried to push herself to her feet but that just made it worse. She was straddling Lucina now, and she could hear nothing but Lucina’s laughter and the roaring of blood in her ears.

Lucina’s giggles softened into a gentle smile. She blinked slowly, prone underneath Severa’s body.

Severa felt herself tilting her head down. She was so close. She could feel the fog of Lucina’s breath on her lips. It would be so simple to do it. To lower her head and part her lips and-

A spray of snow scattered across her back. “Eep!” she cried out as snow ran down the back of her coat.

“Gotcha!” Morgan cried out.

Lucina and Severa both collapsed into laughter and Severa rolled off onto her back, laying next to Lucina in the snow. She was freezing cold and now she was damp, with melted snow running down her jacket and soaking her shirt. She smiled breathlessly up at the open sky, confident in the knowledge Lucina was doing the same at her side.

Lucina sat up first, at Morgan’s goading. She tapped Severa’s prone body. “You alive?”

“Just frozen,” Severa replied. “It’s cool.”

“Are you thinking dinner?” Lucina asked.

“PIZZA!” cried Morgan. “PIZZA!”

Lucina laughed. “How’s pizza sound?”

Severa sat up. “Pizza sounds great,” she smiled.

 

-

 

“Just leave your boots at the door,” Lucina said, kneeling to help Morgan disrobe. She unwound her scarf, unzipped her jacket, and helped her untie her boots. “Go get changed, okay?” Morgan nodded and ran off into the small apartment.

“God, you really got me good,” Severa muttered, peeling her jacket off her now-damp arms. “I think there’s a pound of snow in here.”

“I can lend you a shirt, if you want,” Lucina suggested, taking off her own jacket.

Severa couldn’t help but admire her as she undressed. Even now, she looked beautiful. Rosy cheeks, flushed skin, sweat-dampened hair, snow-sticky long-sleeved shirt plastered to her torso. Her navy hair crusted with a find coating of ice crystals, now brushing off in showers as she combed it out with her fingers. “Sorry, what?” she said, returning to her senses.

“Want a shirt? Or are you good?”

Severa grimaced at her soaked top. “Yeah, that might be good.”

By ‘shirt’, she had kind of assumed an old t-shirt or something. Not…this. Severa winced as she pulled the sweater on. It looked thrifted, which normally wouldn’t be a problem, except this was a knitted red-and-green sweater emblazoned with a giant reindeer on the front. Well, reindeer was perhaps generous. A reindeer-adjacent mammal. Something with four legs. Severa squinted. Was it a cat? El Chupacabra? Regardless, the coating of glittering sequins was a tad much.

“Pepperoni okay?” Lucina asked, leaning out with her phone tucked under her chin.

Severa flashed a thumbs up. She had better luck with pants, digging up a regular pair of flannel pajama pants. They had hung all their damp clothes up in the bathroom to dry.

Morgan was already in the living room, laying on the carpet with a picture book. Lucina was in the kitchen, setting a pot of hot chocolate on the stove to heat up. Severa joined her.

“I know hot chocolate and pizza don’t really mix,” Lucina said, “but I’m cold. Sorry about the heat, it’s…broken.” She smiled sheepishly.

Severa shrugged. She almost said ‘more excuses to snuggle up on the couch’ but thought better of herself.

Lucina was dressed in similarly eclectic attire, her own gaudy-sweater-and-pajamas combo Halloween-themed, rather than Christmas. Severa got the feeling a lot of her casual clothing was holiday-themed.

Morgan was dressed warmly as well, wearing a thick, new-looking sweater and soft cotton pants. She was curled up under a blanket, using her stubby fingers to poke pictures of barnyard animals in her book.

“Go sit on the couch,” Lucina said, gesturing. “I’ll bring you two mugs, okay?”

“Are you sure? Do you need any help?”

Lucina shook her head.

Severa settled onto the couch and watched Morgan play. She was done with reading her book and had shifted gears, now trying to stack her books at odd angles into a tower. Severa leaned forward and looked at the books on the table. She picked one up and showed it to Morgan.

“Have you read this one?”

Morgan nodded, sticking a thumb in her mouth.

“It was one of my favorites,” Severa said, paging through the book with almost reverent nostalgia. “God, I haven’t even thought about this book in years.”

“That’s one of her favorites, too,” Lucina said, sitting next to her. She set three steaming mugs of hot chocolate on the table. “She loves all the illustrations.”

Severa set the book down. She frowned. All of the books looked pretty worn, which she was quickly learning was par for the course for Lucina’s things. She picked idly at a price sticker she recognized from the thrift store.

“Lucina…” she said softly.

“Hm?” Lucina looked up from her mug of hot chocolate. “What’s up?”

“Um…” Severa thought carefully about how to approach her question. “Uh…would Morgan want a buncha my old stuff?”

Lucina raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Severa shrugged. “I got boxes fulla my old baby stuff at my mom’s house. Would you want me to bring some of that over sometime?”

Lucina shook her head. “Oh, no, you don’t have to do that. It’s okay.”

“No, really,” Severa said. “It’s a bunch of stuff that’s just collecting dust. It wouldn’t be a problem.”

Lucina hummed thoughtfully. She sipped from her mug.

“Think about it, okay?” Severa said, making a mental note to text her mom.

As they waited for the pizza to arrive, Lucina got out Morgan’s set of crayons and coloring books. The three of them lay together on the carpet, giggling as Severa intentionally miscolored purple elephants and rainbow cars and blue forests.

“Twees aren’t bwue!” Morgan protested. “Mama, tell her!” she nudged Lucina, whose head swayed.

Severa put a finger to her lips. “Shh,” she said softly. “Why don’t we let mama sleep for a bit?”

Morgan nodded, excited to be sharing a secret.

Mama was indeed dead tired, as evidenced by her soft mumbling as she lay on the carpet, snoozing softly. Morgan colored happily and Severa sat up, watching the little girl play as her mother slept. Lucina looked so peaceful. No worry lines creasing her brow, no bags under her eyes. No smiles that verged on showmanship. She was curled on the carpet, her chest rising and falling in her ridiculous sweater, and Severa thought she was the most beautiful woman in the whole wide world.

The doorbell startled her into wakefulness.

“Ah!” Lucina bolted upright.

Severa laughed softly at the overreaction. “It’s just the pizza. I’ll go get it.”

They ate dinner on the floor, too, sitting cross-legged on the carpet, eating greasy pizza off paper plates as Morgan excitedly chattered about something or other. Severa wasn’t really paying attention. She was watching Lucina, watching her smile and nod and talk to Morgan, watching her pick her pepperoni off her pizza to eat before actually eating the slices, watching her stretch her arms and crack her neck as she adjusted her position.

Soon Morgan was asleep, too, curled up on the floor next to her mother. Lucina was clearly struggling to keep her eyes open but still talked softly with Severa, talking until she closed her eyes and didn’t open them again. Severa smiled and began cleaning up, picking up the empty pizza box and greasy paper plates and neatening the crayons back in their box and putting the coloring books back on the coffee table. She sat on the couch and pulled out her phone.

>Mom, do you still have those boxes of all my old baby stuff?

She closed her eyes and leaned back against the arm of the couch. She wished she had a blanket. No, she wished Lucina was curled up with her. For a brief moment, she considered laying on the floor, too. Her phone buzzed.

 

///

 

“Jesus, Sev, why did you have so much _shit?_ ” Kjelle groaned, looking at the spread of cardboard boxes before them. “Oh, shit, sorry, Miss Cordelia. Uh, oh shit.”

“Shh!” Severa snapped, hushing her. “Sorry, mom. Kjelle was raised in a barn. Ignore her.”

Cordelia’s stern glare passed between her delinquent daughter and her delinquent daughter’s possibly-worse roommate. She frowned. “And why do you need all this stuff again?”

“It’s a charity drive at work,” Severa effortlessly lied. “They’re collecting a bunch of baby stuff to donate, and I figured that I’m not using any of this, so…”

“We were saving it for when you have a child,” Cordelia said.

Severa frowned, kneeling over a box. She pried open the cardboard and began digging through it. “Yeah, the being gay thing kinda makes that…less likely.”

“Not really,” Kjelle said. “Lots of gay people have kids-“ She stopped when Severa shot her an icy glare.

“Besides, I’m not taking all of it,” Severa said. She held up a ratty teddy bear. “I don’t think _anyone_ wants this anymore.”

“Aw, Beary!” Cordelia said, taking it. “He was your favorite, you know.”

“God, mom, do you have to be so embarrassing about it?!” Severa said, snatching it back and stuffing it into its box. “Where’s all my like, toys and stuff?”

Sifting through her old things took considerably longer than necessary when every other box prompted cooing from Cordelia and the requisite retort of anger from Severa. But soon, the sea of dusty cardboard boxes had been whittled down to just one – a single box crammed tight with toys ranging from playsets to dolls to books to construction toys. Cordelia had always been one to encourage developmental growth, which Severa looked back on with disdain but confessed did give her a wide variety of high-quality toys to pass on to Morgan.

Kjelle snickered at a box labeled “Erector Set” and Severa smacked her.

The two brought the box back to their apartment and immediately set off again, this time stopping at a store to pick up a card, tape, and wrapping paper.

She was halfway through selecting the right wrapping when she spied a head of navy hair out of the corner of her eye.

“Shit,” she muttered, grasping Kjelle’s arm and tugging her back down a side aisle.

“What? What’s happening?”

“Fuck, I think this is the store Lucina works at,” Severa said. “She said she worked at an office supply store but never specified.”

Kjelle squinted at her. “Sorry, your single mom works at an office supply store?”

“Don’t call her that.” Severa glared. “Just…go distract her while I check out, will you?”

Kjelle nodded and stumbled out of the aisle, on the prowl.

“Excuse me!” she called out loudly.

Sure enough, Lucina turned around. She looked a little silly, Severa thought as she crept past. Her beauty had no right being subdued by khaki pants and a fucking _polo_ shirt.

“Can I help you?” Lucina asked brightly.

“Yeah,” Kjelle said. “I’m looking for…” she fumbled and Severa rolled her eyes. How hard was coming up with an excuse? “I’m looking for a new laptop.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Lucina said politely. “We actually don’t carry laptops.”

_Unbelievable,_ Severa groaned. By the time she slipped out the front door, Lucina had been trapped for nearly twenty minutes explaining in minute detail what exactly they _did_ carry.

But the mission was accomplished. Severa wrapped up the big box of toys and stuck a card on the top. Satisfied with her handiwork, she flopped back on the couch and looked around her apartment. With some amusement, she noticed that the apartment was quite a bit cleaner than she remembered it being. Perhaps it was habitual, but she more and more found herself cleaning up after Kjelle and herself.

She kicked her feet out on the coffee table and flicked on the TV. Now she just needed to figure out when Morgan’s birthday was. Or, barring that, just make it a spontaneous thing.

“So,” Kjelle leapt over the couch back and landed heavily next to Severa in a spray of chip crumbs. So maybe the apartment wasn’t quite as clean as Severa liked to pretend.

“So, what?” Severa thumbed the remote, flicking through channels.

“What’s all this about?”

Severa didn’t move her gaze from the screen. “What do you mean?”

“This,” Kjelle gestured at the wrapped box next to the coffee table. It was high enough for her to rest her feet on, which she thankfully did not do. “This can’t be all to get in her pants, right?”

Severa slugged her arm. “No, dipshit. Am I not allowed to be nice? She’s got a kid and I have all this shit gathering dust. It’s what anyone would do.”

Kjelle shrugged. “I’m just saying…”

“Saying what?” Severa frowned at her. “You think this is just cause I wanna fuck her?”

“You _do_ , don’t you?”

“W-“ Severa froze. She honestly didn’t have an answer to that question. She did, unquestionably. But it wasn’t just that. It was something more.

“Okay, if I’m translating your blush correctly,” Kjelle snatched the remote and switched the channel. “You do, but you don’t want her to think you’re just in it for the sex.”

Severa folded her arms across her chest and pouted. “Y-yeah,” she muttered.

“That’s what I’m saying,” Kjelle said. “Be careful.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Kjelle looked at her in disbelief. “You know what I mean. You get attached so easily. You’ve been a mess after _one_ failed date. I can’t imagine what a real breakup would do to you.”

Severa buried her face in her shoulder. “That’s not…”

“But you think this one is _the one_ , right?”

“M-maybe.”

“Yeah,” Kjelle said, sitting up. She suddenly looked serious. “Sev, you think everyone is the one. This is the first person you’ve ever been in a relationship with, right? I mean, a real relationship. Not just one date or like, high school shit.”

“So?” Severa seemed to be trying to bury herself into the sofa in frustrated embarrassment.

“So, I just want you to be careful. Like, right now, what are you planning with this girl? Are you gonna marry her? Move into a house in the suburbs and adopt another kid and have a big happy family?”

Severa admitted to herself that sounded kinda nice, actually. She frowned. “No, of course not.”

“So you’re gonna break up with her?”

“No, I-“ Severa stammered, starting to get genuinely upset. “Kjelle, listen, I-“

Kjelle shook her head. “Sev, just hear me out. I don’t wanna make you think I don’t like this girl. She seems real nice. And you seem really happy with her. But you need to think about what you want out of a relationship. She’s got a kid to think about. You can’t string her along, y’know?”

Severa pouted. Kjelle was right, as usual. Severa was so eager to dive headfirst into a relationship that she never really considered the fine details. Sure, _she_ was happy just sort of floating along. But what did Lucina want? What did Lucina need out of a relationship? What did Morgan need?

Severa’s phone rattled on the coffee table. She picked it up. “Yeah?” Her eyes lit up. “Oh, hey! How’s it going?”

Kjelle watched as Severa talked. She could only hear half the conversation, but she could imagine what was being said on the other end.

“Yeah, that sounds…tonight? Sure. What time?...eight again? Alright, great!” she almost hung up before pausing. “Hey, wait! I meant to ask you, uh…when’s Morgan’s birthday? … Oh. Okay. Oh, nothing. Just wondering.” She paused for a longer period of time. “Uh, yeah. No, no. I have an idea. Gimme a second.” Severa covered the phone with her hand. “Hey, Kjelle?”

“Mm?” Kjelle looked up.

“You wanna babysit a kid tonight? I’ll give you twenty bucks.”

Kjelle shook her head. “No can do. Game’s on tonight.”

Severa rolled her eyes. “Okay. Twenty bucks and I’ll give you that sweatshirt you really like.”

Kjelle grinned. “Deal.”

 

-

 

“I really can’t thank you enough,” Lucina said to Kjelle as she stepped through the door into her apartment. “I really haven’t been able to find a babysitter, and-“

Kjelle waved her off. “No worries! Really, it’s not a problem.”

“Okay,” Lucina said. “Alright, I left instructions on the counter, my number’s on the fridge, you have Severa’s number, there’s a list of emergency contacts on the fridge as well, there’s leftover pizza in the freezer, you can help yourself to anything in the fridge-“

Severa tugged her out the door. “Come on, it’ll be fine. Kjelle hasn’t killed anyone yet. Morgan’ll be fine.” They descended the steps down to street level. “You seem awfully worried for someone who left her alone while you went on a date with _me_ ,” Severa teased her.

“I always made a point to keep that sort of thing short. Under two hours and she’s okay, but longer than that and I start to worry.”

“Too bad the daycare isn’t open in the evenings. But really, Kjelle will be fine. Hell, she hasn’t let me die and I’m probably way harder to take care of then a toddler.”

Lucina laughed. Severa was secretly shaking in her boots, though she did her best to keep that hidden. She and Lucina’s dates had been, as mandated by Lucina’s rules, brief – dinners, lunches, the occasional movie. With Kjelle babysitting, they were free to stay out as late as they wanted. Severa hoped that would give her enough time to consume enough drinks to work up the courage to kiss her, but…

“This is a little more my speed,” Severa admitted as they crossed the threshold of a local pub. It was dim and smoky and music echoed from a jukebox somewhere in the corner. “I always try to impress people on first dates, but I’m much more content to just pick a little place like this.”

Lucina nodded. “You’ve been here before?”

“Yeah, literally dozens of times. Kjelle and I come here for happy hour like, every other week,” Severa said as they sat down at the bar. “They got these fuckin’ crab pretzels that are, no shit, _divine_.”

Lucina took off her jacket and draped it over her chair. She looked over the drink menu.

“Rum and coke,” Severa ordered. “Uh…you know what? Make it a double. And a crab pretzel.” She turned to Lucina. “And for you?”

“Just a coke, for now,” Lucina said, folding her menu.

Severa nodded and shot the bartender a thumbs-up. “So anyway, like I was saying, they have really good happy hour specials here. I didn’t even realize it was so close to your place until tonight! If you want Kjelle and I to stop by whenever we’re in the neighborhood, we can.”

Lucina shrugged. “Nah, it’s okay.”

“Suit yourself.” Severa downed half of her cocktail in a single gulp. After finishing their appetizers and drinks, Severa ordered a plate of fries and two shots.

Lucina stirred the ice in her second coke nervously.

“You okay?” Severa asked. “You’ve seemed pretty quiet tonight.”

“It’s…yeah,” Lucina said noncommittally. “I’m fine, just tired.”

Severa nodded. She lifted her shot glass. “Well, perk up! We’re just getting started!”

Lucina smiled sadly and shook her head. “Sorry, no thanks.”

Severa set her glass down. “Huh? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t drink.”

Severa frowned. She briefly ran back through their previous dates in her mind. She would order drinks, but Lucina always ordered cokes. Huh.

Lucina smirked. “It’s okay. More for you, right?”

Severa frowned. _Shit. Shit, shit, shit._ “Jesus, Lucina, sorry I brought you to a fuckin’ bar. I wasn’t even thinking.”

“It’s okay, really!” Lucina shook her head. “It’s okay. Here, drink up!” she pushed her shot glass to Severa.

“Shit, I feel so bad. I-“

Lucina cut her off by raising her soda glass. “Cheers!”

Severa touched the shot glass lightly. “We can go somewhere else, if you want.”

Lucina shook her head and grinned. “And here I was hoping you’d get drunk enough to kiss me tonight!”

Severa felt her face flush.

 

-

 

Severa slammed the door shut and bolted the lock before thrusting Lucina back against the wall and pressing their lips together. She opened her mouth to speak but her lips were immediately blocked by Lucina’s tongue thrusting into her. She threaded her hands through Lucina’s hair and let out a muffled moan. Lucina took control, pushing Severa back against the sink. She grabbed her and lifted her up, setting her down on the sink and parting her legs to wrap her arms around her. Severa obliged, wrapping her legs around Lucina’s torso as they kissed.

They broke for air, gasping and heaving in each other’s arms.

Severa felt dizzy, the haze of alcohol and sweat and Lucina’s perfume and the scent of smoke and the feeling of Lucina’s fingers tight against her side and the feeling of her own hands wandering across Lucina’s waist and oh GOD she needed it. She grasped Lucina tightly, pulling her into a squeezing embrace, almost like she was trying to merge with her. She kissed Lucina roughly, thrusting her tongue past her lips and into her soft, warm mouth.

They broke again for air and Lucina softly pushed her back. “Y-you’re kinda crushing me.”

“Sorry,” Severa heaved, scooting backwards, blushing. Or was it just the alcohol? She could pretend.

Lucina propped herself on the sink, breathing heavily.

Severa leaned backward and rested against the mirror, closing her eyes. “I can’t believe my first kiss was in a bar bathroom,” she laughed.

Lucina coughed. “I’m sorry? Your what?”

Severa’s face flushed scarlet. “M-my…I mean, uh…I…” she winced. “You know, my first kiss with _you_ , I mean.”

Lucina smiled and leaned forward. She kissed Severa softly. No tongue, no needy motion. Just soft passion. She pulled back. “Better?”

Severa stared at her, dazed.

 

-

 

 

Severa swirled the ice in her drink, staring into the dark liquid. “Why don’t you drink?” she asked quietly.

The evening had been winding down steadily as the bar crowd shuffled out. Even the music seemed more subdued, slower tunes crackling from the jukebox and Severa and Lucina chatted and ate.

Lucina picked at the almost-empty plate of fries. She chewed thoughtfully.

“I…I used to drink. A lot, actually.” She ate a fry. “After Morgan was born, I was…in a really bad place. I spent a lot of my money on drinks, a lot of money that should have gone towards stuff for Morgan. I would come home from work, drink myself to sleep, then repeat. Day after day after day.”

“Shit,” Severa said without thinking.

“You said it,” Lucina agreed. “I…I got tired of it. You reach a point where you’re just…sick of waking up in a pool of your own vomit. I started attending AA meetings, and now…” she smiled and raised her empty coke glass. “Two years this March.”

“Well, shit. Congrats,” Severa said, genuinely impressed. She felt something in the pit of her stomach, something she couldn’t quite place. Pity? No, that didn’t seem right. But…something akin to that. She felt sick, and it wasn’t just the fifty dollars in cocktails swirling in her innards. Two years. Morgan was four. That meant…two years of…

“You never did tell me what happened,” she said, trying to derail her thoughts. “With Morgan, I mean. Or her dad.”

Lucina nodded, as if weighing the decision in her head. “I was young, and I was stupid, and I was in love.” She sighed. “He was one of my father’s coworkers.”

Severa sat up, pushing her drink aside. It wasn’t just morbid curiosity, though that was part of it.

“After I graduated high school, I took a gap year to intern with my father. That’s where I met Robin.” She stared past Severa. “He…he was the perfect gentleman. Kind, polite, handsome. I was young, and I just fell head-over-heels for him.”

She took a minute to collect her thoughts. “When we first started seeing each other, I was nineteen and he was thirty-two.” She frowned. “I guess that should have been a red flag, but…you know how it is.”

Severa nodded.

“Anyway, I…I put off going to school for him. I stayed and kept working to stay close to him. We…I was in love. I guess he didn’t feel the same way. When I told him I was pregnant, he told me he didn’t love me anymore.” She sighed again. “And that’s about the end of it.”

“Fucker,” Severa snapped. “What a fucking asshole.”

Lucina shrugged. “It’s not just him. I can’t really say I didn’t have a part in it. What the fuck was I thinking, dating someone like him?”

“It’s not your responsibility to not date predatory creeps,” Severa said. “It’s his responsibility to not _be_ a fuckin’ creep.” She finished her drink. “Fuck. And I’m guessing this asshole doesn’t pay child support, either?”

“He doesn’t need to,” Lucina said.

“What do you mean he doesn’t? You’re scraping by!”

“It’s not like we were married. And I’ve never taken him to court.”

“Christ, Lucina! This asshole deserves it!”

Lucina shook her head sadly. “Severa, you…I know your heart is in the right place, but…”

“But what? Don’t tell me this clown still works for your dad!”

Lucina nodded. “He does, which is why I don’t.”

“I’m gonna fuckin’ kill him,” said the cocktails in Severa’s stomach. She growled. “Asshole.”

“Severa…” Lucina put a hand on her leg. “It’s okay. Really. I promise.”

“No, it’s not! This asshole took advantage of you, and now he isn’t even paying for his mistakes! Even worse, he’s living the high life working for your dad while you work at a fucking Staples!”

“Don’t call her a mistake!” Lucina snapped at last, forcefully. She hit the bar with enough force that their drinks rattled. “I wanted her!”

Severa faltered.

“I…” Lucina’s lip quivered. “I wanted to keep her. I know it…it probably wasn’t the right decision, but…”

Severa took her hand. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I…I didn’t mean to imply…”

“It’s fine,” Lucina said, brushing her off. “Let’s…let’s just get going, okay?”

 

-

 

“So that doesn’t sound like it went _great_ ,” Kjelle said as they walked.

It wasn’t great. It was, in fact, terrible, and Severa wanted to die. She fucked it up, like she always did. She pressed Lucina, she said the wrong things, and she fucked it up. It had just been a matter of time until something like this happened. She groaned.

“Kjelle, why am I such a fucking _asshole_?”

Kjelle shrugged. “Poor parenting?”

Severa let out a huff. “It’s for the best, anyway. Lucina doesn’t need someone like me in her life.”

“Woah, woah, woah! Are you assuming this is the end of it? Like, you two are done?”

Severa shrugged, exasperated. “I dunno! But she thinks I called her kid a mistake, and that certainly didn’t score me any points!”

Kjelle nudged her playfully. “Come on, kiddo. It’s not the end of the world.”

Severa wanted to throw up. It wasn’t the end of the world, but it might as well have been. They had walked back to Lucina’s apartment in silence, and barely even said goodbye. And now, Severa was trudging through the streets towards home, kicking at clumps of slush, wishing she’d slip and break her fucking neck.

Kjelle sighed. “It _is_ the end of the world, isn’t it.”

Severa nodded. She sniffled and hoped Kjelle would assume it was the cold. But of course she didn’t. They knew each other too well for that.

Kjelle’s boots stopped crunching in the snow. “Come on.”

Severa turned slowly, blinking, hoping she could stop the tears before they began. She looked at Kjelle’s open arms. “I don’t want a hug.”

“You do.”

Severa wrapped her arms around her and let out another sniffle. “Why do I keep fucking things up for myself?”

Kjelle squeezed her tightly, tight enough to hear her joints crack. Too hard for most people, but she knew Severa appreciated the pressure. Severa whimpered. Kjelle slowly let go, letting Severa fall from her embrace and stagger back a step.

“Look, Sev. If she means that much to you, just go apologize!”

Severa shook her head and wiped her eyes. “No. She deserves someone better than me.”

Kjelle put her hands on Severa’s shoulders. Severa tilted her head down, not meeting Kjelle’s gaze.

“Look at me. Hey, Sev. Look at me.”

Severa tilted her eyes up.

“She deserves _you_. And you deserve her. You know what I had to deal with all night? Morgan, going on and on about how much she loves Sevwuh, and how much fun you were. You know what she called you? She called you Mama Sevwuh.”

“She’s four. She doesn’t know anything.”

“No, but she does love you. And I know Lucina does too. Okay? So go. Go apologize to her! I dunno, go have some crazy fuckin’ make-up sex, alright?”

Severa wrinkled her nose and Kjelle laughed.

“Come on, go!” Kjelle pushed her forward.

 

-

 

Severa took a deep breath before knocking on the door. The short walk in the cold was helpful, if for no other reason than because it made her flushed face and watery eyes simply look cold, not tearful.

Lucina had no such excuse.

She opened the door, eyes red and puffy. She blinked.

Severa took a step forward and threw her arms around Lucina, squeezing her tightly. “I’m so sorry,” she mumbled breathlessly. “I’m so, so, sorry.”

Lucina returned her embrace. “It’s okay,” she sniffled. “I overreacted. You don’t need to apologize.”

“No, I do!” Severa buried her face in Lucina’s neck. “I…I’ve been terrible all night. I took you to a bar, and I made you talk about these awful things, and then I didn’t even listen to what you had to say!”

“It’s okay,” Lucina whispered hoarsely. “It’s okay.”

They stood there, entwined in the doorway. Severa pulled back just far enough apart to look Lucina in the eye while still holding her. “I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do to make things right?”

Lucina sniffled. “You could kiss me.”

And Severa did.

 

-

 

Severa clung tightly to her all night. It wasn’t even sex. They did kiss, of course, but they mostly just held each other, talking softly into the dark hours of the night. Severa squeezed onto her closely, burying herself in Lucina’s soft nightclothes and her long hair and the warm blankets of her bed. The bed was a pile of warmth – they each donned sweaters and flannel pants and cozied up under two blankets. The air was cold – the apartment’s heater was still broken, after all – but Severa had never felt more comfortable in her entire life. She and Lucina, curled together. Soft kisses and gentle touches and slow, grinding embraces.

Lucina put both hands on Severa’s cheeks and kissed her slowly, passionately. She pulled back slightly. “Morgan and I were talking,” she said quietly. “We…we want you to be a part of our family.”

Severa smiled, hoping the tears glittering in her eyes weren’t as obvious as they felt. “I would like that very much.”

 

-

 

Lucina rolled over. She frowned. Something felt off. She sat up.

_That smell_.

She tried to place it. Meat?

She shimmied out from under the covers and winced as her bare feet struck cold hardwood floor. She began digging through the room for a pair of thick wool socks. She padded out into the hall. Sounds drifted through the air. A sizzling sound, gentle music. What sounded like television, maybe? Soft talking.

She emerged into the living room, bleary-eyed, and blinked a couple times before she really got a grasp on the situation.

Severa was in the kitchen, an apron wrapped around her. She was tending to three pans simultaneously – ah, that was the sizzling. Bacon and eggs. Pancakes, too.

Morgan was curled up on the couch, swathed in a blanket, watching television. Lucina paused in the doorway, watching quietly.

Severa was…humming? “Morgan, do you know where your mom keeps the chocolate chips?” she asked.

Morgan shook her head.

“Hmm.” Severa began sifting through the kitchen cabinets.

“Top right shelf, above the stove,” Lucina said.

Severa turned, grinning. “Well, look who decided to join us. Good morning, sleepyhead.”

Lucina crossed into the kitchen. “Good morning. What’s…all this?” she gestured at the stove.

“Oh, sorry,” Severa said as she shook out a bag of chocolate chips into a bowl of pancake batter. “You didn’t…um…you didn’t really have any food in the fridge, so I picked some stuff up at the corner store. There’s milk and orange juice in the fridge, and I picked up some nicer coffee – no offense - if you want me to make a pot. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course not,” Lucina smiled. “Thank you, Severa. I don’t even know what to say.”

“Don’t thank me,” Severa said. She gestured a spatula towards Morgan. “She’s the one who asked for pancakes.”

Morgan grinned. “Chocowate!”

Severa smiled at Lucina. “I hope chocowate’s okay.”

Lucina, Severa, and Morgan sat together on the couch eating breakfast and watching cartoons. Severa found herself unable to stop smiling. She felt so…peaceful. There was nothing – no inner critic, no voice of her mother, no urge to swear or shout. Nothing but Lucina and Morgan and pancakes and the blankets piled on the sofa. Light crept through the window, the glow of a sunrise blanketed in snow. Severa let her head drift, resting it on Lucina’s shoulder.

“I have work, you know,” Lucina said quietly.

Severa felt her stomach lurch. _No_! she wanted to shout. _It wasn’t fair_! _No one should be able to take this moment from her_. But she didn’t shout. She simply nodded, rubbing her nose against Lucina’s shoulder, nuzzling her. “I figured.”

“I have to be in at noon.”

“That gives us a few more hours.”

“Yeah.” Lucina kissed her forehead.

“And then what?” Severa asked, dreading the answer. She didn’t want to go home. Back to her apartment with Kjelle, her lonely bedroom. She never wanted to be alone again.

“I guess…I could see you tonight, after work?”

“I could stay!” Severa blurted out without thinking. “I…I could stay and watch Morgan. If…I mean, if you…wanted.”

Lucina smiled warmly. “Well, that’s not really my call to make. Morgan, do you want to stay with Severa today?”

“Yeh!” Morgan beamed. “Mama Sevwuh said we’d pway today!”

Lucina raised her eyebrow. “Oh? I see you’ve already discussed this.”

Severa blushed. “I…may have suggested it.”

Lucina grasped Severa’s chin and pulled her into a soft, slow kiss.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UPDATE TIME BABEY!!!!!! We got it all - Sev backstory, smoochin', cameos from other games, a bizarre tendency to write about food a lot; what more could you want??
> 
> Okay I gotta say I have been totally blown away by the reception for this fic. It was 100% self-indulgent on-a-whim modau of a friend's AU and then I just fell in love with this stuff, and people seem to like it. SO there will absolutely be lots more! Probably not consistently, because I'm the worst, but...hey, here's a chapter. As always, kudos and comments are appreciated!

Severa twirled her pencil idly in her fingers, counting her spins. One. Two. Three. Four. Dammit. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Dammit. One.

She looked at the clock, watching the slow hands ticking in their endless, interminable revolutions. She checked her phone. She sighed and checked her email. She lifted her head up, peering at the empty reception room before her. There were two couches on opposite sides of a glass table. Magazines were stacked on the table – looked like women’s health periodicals and some history journals. It was quiet. From the office behind her, she could hear a tinny radio playing some top-40s tune she knew but couldn’t name.

She looked out the window, though there wasn’t much to see. A grey, snowy sky, and the office building across the way. If she wanted, she could get up and cross to the window and look down at the street, far below. Not the most exciting view, but it was just the reception room. The actual offices got the fancy corner windows.

She checked her phone again and let her gaze linger on her lock screen. It was a self-portrait (yes it was a selfie, but she wouldn’t be caught DEAD using such a term); she was smiling, arm in arm with another woman. Taller, stockier, with sweeps of beautiful navy hair. Between them, grinning wildly, was a young girl with wild, feathery white hair. In the background were flurries of snow and bright neon lights.

Severa sighed again. They had gone ice skating a few weeks ago, and, surprisingly, Lucina was the only one who had any skill with it whatsoever. Morgan gave Severa an excuse to hug the walls and go slowly, though. It was…embarrassing, to say the least, to have ended up flat on her butt more times than the four-year-old did.

Severa stared at the notification bar, hoping.

It was futile, of course. Lucina worked the closing shift tonight, meaning she wouldn’t be able to text or call until at least 11. Severa grimaced at the clock. 4:45. Almost time for her to go home, at any rate.

“On your phone again, Severa?”

Severa quickly shut the phone off and slipped it back into her pocket. “N-no, Miss Camilla!” she stammered, looking up.

Her boss leaned over the counter and looked at her curiously. “Are you lying to me?”

Severa winced. “Uh…”

Camilla laughed. “It’s fine.” She turned around and leaned back against the receptionist counter, resting her elbows on the marble. She was, as always, dressed to the nines - on this particular afternoon she was clad in a slick black sport coat that matched her slacks and frighteningly tall heels. Her thick lavender hair bounced as she moved. She looked around the empty waiting room. “Looks like it’s really coming down out there.”

“Huh?” Severa sat up and looked out the window. Between the buildings she could see flurries of snow, great white flakes fluttering and swirling, no doubt piling up far below, caking the sidewalks and streets. “Yeah.”

“Well,” Camilla turned and rapped her knuckles on the counter. “Why don’t we call it a day? I can’t imagine anyone coming in if it’s like that out. And, of course, it wouldn’t do for all of us to get stuck here overnight.” She grinned, making Severa feel somewhat nervous.

“Are you sure? I still had some forms I needed to enter…”

“Then what were you doing on your phone?”

Severa winced again. “Uh…”

“I kid, I kid,” her boss waved her hand. “Though…” she leaned over the desk, giving Severa an uncomfortable eyeful of her cleavage in her low-cut button-down shirt. “If you don’t mind me asking, who is that lovely lady in your background?”

“What?” Severa blushed. “Who?”

Camilla laughed. “The woman you’re with! She’s very pretty.”

“Oh…” Severa said quietly. “Um, that’s…my girlfriend.” It still felt exhilarating, using the word. She still couldn’t _quite_ believe it.

“OhoHO?” Camilla smiled. “And who’s that little tyke in the middle? A sister?”

“Um, it’s…” Severa pursed her lips. Far be it from her to hide things from her boss, but at the same time, it was pretty personal. On the other hand, any answer dodging would be even weirder than just telling her, right?

“It’s her daughter.”

Camilla raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Severa coughed and made a show of checking out the window. “Oh, jeez, you’re not kidding. I should really get going before the bus routes get all backed up.” She got to her feet in a hurry and gathered up her bag and her papers. “I can enter those forms tonight if yo-“

“Oh, nonsense,” Camilla waved her off. “Go, have fun. Enjoy the evening.” She sunk into one of the reception room couches and waved Severa out the door. “I’ll call you if we’re closed tomorrow, alright, dear?”

“Y-yeah,” Severa said, shuffling out the door. “T-thanks, Miss Camilla!”

She made record time to the elevator and hammered the call button. She felt her heart racing, matching the speed of her thoughts. _Oh, god. Was that weird? Did she think that was weird? I mean, it IS weird, right? Should I have lied? Should I have said something else?_ The elevator opened with a ding. _Should I have said she was OUR daughter?!_ It had been two months since she and Lucina first started dating, and Severa was still getting a hang of the minutiae.

So absorbed in her thoughts was she that she barreled into the elevator’s other occupant.

“Severa!?” cried said occupant.

Severa staggered back. “Lucina? What are you doing here?!”

“I…” Lucina helped steady Severa and get her upright. “I got the evening off. I thought I’d stop by and surprise you.”

“Su…surprise me!” Severa repeated.

“Yes…?” Lucina cracked a smile. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I just…you sure did surprise me.” Severa let out a breath. “Okay. Wow. Hello! Jeez, I really didn’t expect to see you at all tonight!”

Lucina nodded. “A coworker took my closing shift, so all I had was my office stuff today. I was walking by on my way to the daycare and thought I’d stop by and see if you were interested in dinner.”

“Dinner? Yeah, that sounds great,” Severa said agreeably. “I’m starving.”

“Though, also…” Lucina trailed off, staring at the elevator’s carpet.

“Also…?” Severa repeated. “You have something else in mind?”

“Oh, just…” Lucina dug her foot into the carpet somewhat bashfully. “Well, Morgan’s at the daycare until six, and I thought…maybe…”

Severa frowned. “It’s just down the street from your place, right?”

Lucina nodded. “I was just thinking, maybe we could…” she coughed. “I mean…it’s not often we have an opportunity for some alone time…”

If it were possible for the color to drain from Severa’s face while she was simultaneously blushing, that’s certainly what happened.

 

-

 

Severa probably wasn’t a good kisser. She had almost no experience, after all – a string of failed dates trailing back to high school, at which point her dating history turned into regrettably dating guys she always ended up hating for one reason or another (spoilers – she was gay). Kjelle had lectured her on her kissing technique in the past, usually aided by mutual bitter loneliness and a case of cheap beer – “You use too much tongue”, “you’re not supposed to be eating the other person’s face”, “people don’t like when you grab them so tightly”, and so on. But it’s not like she had much of an opportunity to practice.

So, in a sense, meeting Lucina was a boon to Severa – she didn’t seem particular in her preferences, and making out more often than not involved rolling around under the covers, lips and teeth and tongues nipping and biting and licking and Severa’s death-grip on Lucina’s slender frame. They clung tightly to each other, faces pressed together, blankets bunches up haphazard heaps as they huddled for warmth and touch in Lucina’s chilly apartment.

“Eep!” Severa cried out and scooted back, startled by frigid fingers dancing under her shirt hem and pressing against her warm stomach. “Cold!”

“S-sorry,” Lucina muttered, her breathy voice anything but apologetic. She wrapped her arms around the small of Severa’s back and tugged her into a tight embrace, careful to keep her fingers against fabric.

Severa’s hands wandered more conservatively, carefully caressing Lucina’s back, digging into the fabric of her shirt. Her fingertips brushed Lucina’s bra strap through her shirt and she withdrew, repositioning to wrap her arms tightly around Lucina’s neck.

Severa burned – the heat of their bodies under the covers, her cheeks flushed, her chest heaving, her breath hot and husky. She pressed her lips into Lucina’s. Lucina shifted, breaking the kiss to draw in a tight breath. She pulled back, for a moment staring at Severa.

They looked each other in the eyes – bright blue met muted red, and Severa dove forward for another kiss.

Lucina took initiative, rolling to get Severa underneath her. She tilted her head down and sank her teeth into Severa’s neck, pleased with the elicited whimper.

With one hand clutching Severa’s hip, Lucina slipped the other up her shirt and along her spine. Severa squirmed, arching her back forward and bringing herself tighter against Lucina reflexively. Lucina bit her again, then kissed her – pressed her lips into her collar, her neck, the bottom of her chin, then finally against her lips. Severa opened her mouth receptively.

With one deft hand, Lucina unhooked Severa’s bra strap and Severa squirmed, mumbling into Lucina’s lips. Lucina’s hands shifted to the bottom hem of Severa’s shirt and she tugged hungrily.

Severa squirmed again, more frantically, and Lucina kissed her again, pressing their lips tight together. Lucina grasped Severa’s shirt and pulled up, exposing her stomach.

Severa pushed back, breaking their kiss. “L-Lucina, w-wait,” she mumbled, her voice hushed by another kiss. She tried again, more adamantly, reaching a hand down to tug her shirt back into position. “Lucina, wait, I…”

Lucina froze, withdrawing her hands and moving back a respectful distance. “S-Severa? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah, I just…” Severa breathed, chest still heaving. She looked at Lucina through apologetic, borderline embarrassed eyes. “It’s…I’ve never really…done…” she let the sentence trail off and closed her eyes.

Lucina picked up the hint immediately. “Oh my gosh, Severa, I’m sorry, I didn’t-“

“No, it’s okay,” Severa tried to reassure her, calming her breathing. “I…”

Lucina shifted forward, wrapping the blankets close around them, and reached out a tender hand to Severa. “Do you want to stop?”

Severa shook her head and closed her eyes. “No, I just…” She closed her eyes. She didn’t want to stop, but at the same time, she felt so uncomfortable. The warm, quiet atmosphere felt replaced with tense awkwardness. Severa sat up, brushing the covers off and straightening her clothes. “I’m, sorry, I…” she sighed and rested her forehead in her hands. “I should just go.”

 

-

 

“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” Severa flopped in her bed, hitting her head against the pillow, shouting. “Stupid!” With a _whump_ she slammed her forehead into the pillow again before crumpling and curling up against her headboard.

“Hey!” Kjelle scolded her, standing up from Severa’s desk and crossing to restrain the flailing girl. “Hey, stop it!” She tugged Severa back before she could do it again. “Stop it, okay? It’s not that bad.”

“I’m so _stupid_!” Severa groaned, holding her head in her hands. “God, I’m an idiot…”

“No you aren’t,” Kjelle said dutifully, rubbing her shoulders. “You know you aren’t.”

Severa grumbled.

“Come on. Say it.”

“I’m not stupid,” Severa begrudgingly admitted, glowering at her throw rug.

“You’re _not_ ,” Kjelle agreed, sitting back. “Okay? It doesn’t even sound that bad.”

“It _is_ , though…she probably thinks I’m an idiot, or a weirdo, or-“

Kjelle clamped a hand over her mouth. “You’re doing it again! No talking if you’re just gonna shit on yourself.” She yelped, pulling her hand back. “Ew, you licked me!”

Severa stuck her tongue out.

Kjelle sighed and leaned back, spreading her arms on Severa’s bedspread. “Okay. Do you wanna talk about it?”

“No,” Severa lied. “I’m just overreacting, like always.”

“Right. Okay, so what happened? You said you freaked out, but…what do you mean. Did you start to panic?”

Severa nodded slowly. “Yeah, I…I just got scared.”

Kjelle’s voice turned tender. “About what?”

Severa shrugged. “I don’t know, just…” She flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling, eyes dark. “Just that I’m so bad at stuff like that, and she’s so amazing and she deserves someone better than me, and what if she sees my scars and thinks I’m gross, and how I’m probably going to be terrible at _that_ stuff, like I’m terrible at everything else, and I just kept thinking about her fucking ex, and how they probably had a ton of great sex, and how he’s probably so much better than me, and I’m just a girl so it’s not like I can even-“

“Hey!” Kjelle snapped, cutting her off. “I don’t wanna hear that.”

Severa scowled. “You _asked_.”

Kjelle leaned over her and tugged her into an upright sitting position. “I don’t wanna hear you say things like that, okay? She loves _you_. She deserves _you._ And you deserve her. Okay?”

Severa nodded slowly, unconvinced.

Kjelle paused, thinking. “Oh, _shit._ It’s one of those things, isn’t it?”

“One of what things?”

“One of those ‘I’m not good enough’ things. You know, where you think anything short of perfection is worthless, so you’d rather stop making out and go home than even _risk_ things being awkward or difficult.”

Severa ground her teeth angrily. “N-No, it’s-“

“Say it, Sev. It’s a mom thing.”

Severa smacked her.

 

///

 

Even in the cold, Kjelle loved running. In fact, the cold made it even better. The burning in her lungs, the wind in her short hair, the mostly-empty sidewalks…it was perfect. She barely even had to dress warmly, so quickly did she push herself past the point of sweating. In her mind, this was the perfect temperature equilibrium – hot enough to sweat, cooled down by the natural air. Rain would have been better, but snow was just fine. Her sneakers crunched along the sidewalks with ease, their sturdy rubber grips stopping her from skidding even as she bounded around corners and march off curbs. Music pounded in her ears, a steady beat to match the pounding of her feet against the ground.

As per her usual ritual, she also stopped to grab a sports drink from the convenience store before starting her cool-down walk. Heedless of her sweat-slicked hair and damp shirt, she did a few stretches before passing through the glass sliding doors into the fluorescent-lit shop within.

She perused the coolers without any urgency, tapping her foot against the tile to her music as she checked price labels and compared drink options. She settled for a bottle of something blue and headed to the checkout counter. She was reading the label on the back and nearly ran into a display rack in surprise when she spied a head of blue hair at the counter.

She frowned.

It was Lucina, alright. She looked, for lack of a better word, like shit. Her eyes were half-lidded and dark, and she sort of slouched as she sifted through her wallet for her card. Exhaustion was Kjelle’s best guess, if she wasn’t just outright sick.

Kjelle hung back and muted her music, curious.

Lucina swiped her card. The register beeped loudly. “S-sorry,” she muttered. She tried again and was rewarded with another beep.

Kjelle made an attempt to lean forward surreptitiously and catch a glimpse of what she was buying. She frowned.

“S-sorry,” Lucina muttered again. “Um…” she paused for a moment. “Okay, how about just this one?” she said quietly, pushing back one of her items from the rest. It looked like a pre-packaged kids’ meal. The cashier rang it up and Lucina swiped her card.

“Never mind,” she said, shaking her head.

Kjelle approached the counter next, setting her drink down as the cashier put Lucina’s items behind him. Kjelle caught a better look – two pre-packaged meals, a bottle of aspirin, and a box of band-aids.

“Trouble with the card reader?” Kjelle asked conversationally.

The cashier shook his head. “Shouldn’t be. Your total comes to one thirty-nine.”

“Uh…” Kjelle looked at the exit. Lucina was already gone, back into the snowy day outside. “You know what? I’ll get her stuff, too.”

 

-

 

“Lucina!” Kjelle hustled to catch up with her, plastic bag dangling from her fingertips. “Hey, hold up!”

Lucina turned, surprised. “Oh, hello…Kjelle. Am I pronouncing that right?”

Kjelle nodded. “Here.” She held out the bag.

“What’s this?” Lucina took it and looked inside. She frowned and looked at Kjelle.

“I was…” Kjelle gestured back in the direction of the convenience store. “Never mind. Keep it. Though, I gotta say…that’s not exactly the healthiest meal for a growin’ kid, you know.”

“I know,” Lucina nodded. “Thank you, Kjelle.”

“You okay? You’re looking pretty pale.”

“I’m fine,” Lucina said. “I think I’m just coming down with something.”

Kjelle looked at the snow falling from the grey sky. “Walking around in weather like this? No surprise there. Come on, I’ll walk with you. Though…” Kjelle frowned. “Are you goin’ somewhere? Can I buy you a quick dinner?”

Lucina raised an eyebrow, surprised. “Um, I was on my way to the daycare, then home. Why?”

“I, ah…” Kjelle rested a hand on her hip. “I know you’ve kinda got a lot on your plate right now, but I wanted to talk about Severa.”

That caught Lucina’s attention. “Severa? Is she okay? Did something happen?”

“Uh…” Kjelle pursed her lips. “I guess I just mean…in general.”

“Oh.”

“Come on, let’s get something to eat. My treat.”

 

-

 

Kjelle sat across the high pub table from Lucina, watching her unwrap the foil from around her burger. She tore into it with reckless abandon, devouring the sandwich as Kjelle stared on in awe.

“S-sorry,” Lucina blushed, swallowing a mouthful of meat. “I haven’t had anything to eat today.”

Kjelle laughed. “Hell, you want another one? I’m half-tempted to buy you more just to see you pack ‘em away like that!”

Lucina’s blush deepened and she set down the empty foil wrapper.

“I’m serious, though,” Kjelle said. “You want another one? They’re only like three bucks.”

“N-no, I couldn’t-“

Kjelle leapt up from their table and returned from the counter with a receipt for three more burgers. She picked at their greasy bag of fries. Lucina giggled and stirred the ice in her drink.

“Hm?” Kjelle frowned. “What’s so funny?”

Lucina smiled and ate a fry. “It’s funny, I always took you for a health-food person. Seeing you in workout clothes eating fast food is just…” she shrugged.

“Hey, girl’s gotta eat, right?” To illustrate her point, Kjelle ate a quarter of her burger in a single bite and washed it down with her own drink.

“So,” Lucina began cautiously. “Severa. You wanted to talk about her?”

Kjelle nodded and choked down another massive bite before speaking. “Yeah, uh…” Never one for beating around the bush, she blazed on. “I heard you and Severa had a little incident.”

“Huh?” Lucina asked. “She told you about that?”

“Yeah,” Kjelle nodded. “She kinda…tells me everything.”

“I noticed.”

Kjelle searched for the right words in the bottom of her fry bag. “She’s…” Start simple. “Severa’s really important to me. Not like…” She had expected this to be easier, but her usual forthrightness seemed to be failing her.

She took a deep breath. “Severa and I were roommates together freshman year of college. She was…well, when I met her, she was quite a bit different from how she is now.” She frowned. “I guess I should start at the beginning.”

Lucina ate slowly, unwrapping a second burger and eating it as Kjelle spoke.

“Severa’s dad died when she was ten. He and her mom had been divorced…well, not divorced. Estranged, I guess? Apparently, they used to fight a lot, and Severa blames herself for her parents separating.”

“Why?”

“I mean, it kinda _was_ her fault. According to her, she was a really shitty kid – just awful. She fought with her parents all the time, and when she didn’t get her way she would pit her parents against each other. She was closer with her dad, but when he left, he left her with her mom.”

Lucina nodded.

“He died a little bit after they broke up. I think he was hit by a car, or something, but Severa doesn’t really talk about it much. I’m not actually sure if she was, like, there for it, but I think she was. Anyway, her mom remarried this new guy, and he and Severa _hate_ each other. Like, barely on speaking terms. Apparently, he had his own kid or whatever and gave him special treatment over Severa, and her mom was trying to get with this guy so _she_ gave this kid attention, too, and Severa just kinda fell by the wayside.”

“God, I had no idea…” Lucina set her food down, surprised. “She’s never even mentioned anyone but her mom.”

Kjelle shrugged. “I mean, that’s Severa’s side of the story. I’m sure she’s exaggerating at least a bit of it. But anyway, she…apparently, she had some kinda break in high school or something. She had been a really good student beforehand – like, class valedictorian good, trying to impress her mom and live up to her crazy high standards. But she flipped, I guess, and her grades just tanked. She started cutting class, getting into fights, smoking, drinking, drugs. You know how teenagers are.”

Lucina nodded thoughtfully.

“I wanna say she crashed her step-dad’s car? But anyway, her mom made her start going to anger management, and that’s where she met her friend Noire, who has the honorable distinction of being Severa’s first friend.”

Lucina knew a bit about Noire from Severa, though they had never formally met. She made a mental note to ask Severa about meeting her sometime. “How old was she, when this happened?”

Kjelle drummed her fingers against the table. “Sixteen, I think? Maybe seventeen. Something like that.”

“Got it. Continue.”

“Right, so Severa was this like, borderline-high-school-dropout kid, sporadically attending anger management, pretty much going nowhere. Her mom made her apply to college, to the same program she attended, so she could get a legacy scholarship despite her iffy grades. So when I met Severa, she was just this super standoffish bitch who kept sneaking alcohol into the dorms and setting the fire alarms off by smoking, and she’d never change the fucking toilet paper and okay I think I’ve gotten off track. What I’m saying is, she was a terrible roommate and I hated her.”

“Okay, but obviously something happened, since you still live with her, what, five years later?”

Kjelle held up a hand. “I’m getting to it. Severa and I did _not_ get along. But…being away from her folks did her some good, I guess. She kept at her anger management stuff, and she started going to therapy since the school had free counseling. I did have to force her to go, but she stuck with it. I guess she kinda mellowed out a bit, and she managed to graduate with okay grades. She patched up her relationship with her mom, and she can be in the same room as her step-dad without fighting now. She stopped smoking, too. Got a shitty job, and…voila. The Severa you see before you.”

Lucina frowned. “Okay…? Why are you telling me all this?”

“I’m hoping it’ll kinda…explain a bit about how she is, and some of her…quirks.”

“Wait, hold on. You didn’t explain why you still live with her. Did something happen?”

“Uh…she just kinda…followed me around, a lot. I forced her to go to therapy, so I think she interpreted that as my willingness to help her get her life together. Really, I just wanted her to clean her fucking side of the room and to stop screaming on her cell phone at three in the goddamn morning, but…” Kjelle digressed. “I’m a bit of a pushover, so I let her tag along. She even started coming to my hockey games. It almost seemed like…she didn’t know what to do with herself when I wasn’t around.”

“Why didn’t she ever ask _you_ out? She certainly seems to like you.”

“She did. Five times. She’s not my type. I’m more of a…surrogate mom figure.” Kjelle frowned. “Ew.”

Lucina nodded. “Doesn’t really seem like a healthy basis for a friendship.”

Kjelle shrugged. “I mean, it probably isn’t, but it works. We roomed together again sophomore year, got an apartment, and the rest is history.”

“So.”

Kjelle shook her head, ceasing her nostalgic reveling. “Anyway, what I’m saying is, Sev and I are really close, and over the years I’ve compiled a sort of…’Dealing With Sev’ guide. I should really write it down sometime. Do you have a pen and paper? That might help.”

Lucina searched her purse and shrugged.

“That’s fine, you can probably just remember it. Anyway. So. Severa is a crazy perfectionist. She likes everything to be a particular way, and she can get pretty tense when stuff isn’t just right.”

Lucina nodded. She had noticed so, even in the two months of their dating. Severa had tried to keep it restrained, but Lucina noticed frustration cropping up here and there.

“So, like, the problem that you guys had the other night. Communication is key for her – make it clear what you’re doing, check with her to make sure it’s okay, and then…” Kjelle gestured. “Full steam ahead. She doesn’t like surprises, and she doesn’t really like spontaneous stuff. Not just in the bedroom, but with everything. Just make it clear what you want to do, and she should be fine.”

“No surprises. Communication. Got it.”

“I’m serious. You’ll feel silly, but she’ll always respond better to you asking. When she’s really upset, I’ve taken to asking her ‘touch or space’? Sometimes she needs space and touch will freak her out, and other times she just needs a hug.”

“Touch or space. Okay.”

“If she _does_ want touch, don’t be afraid to really get in there. You’ve probably noticed that she’s a bit of a clinger. Pressure makes her feel comfortable. I’m pretty sure she even sleeps with one of those weighted blankets. She actually told me she loves sleeping over because your apartment is cold and she has an excuse to sleep with four blankets and still cuddle.”

Lucina nodded and smiled. “She does seem to like it.”

“Be gay on your own time, Lucina,” Kjelle teased. She thought for a second. “Or rather, hers. She’s pretty needy and requires a constant stream of reassurance and affection to function.”

“I can absolutely handle that.”

“What did I _just_ say?” Kjelle smirked, then frowned. “Oh, okay. Serious one. When she’s upset, she just shuts off. If she’s screaming and yelling, that mean’s she’s not _actually_ that upset, and she’ll pretty much be over it as soon as the words leave her mouth. But if she’s actually, genuinely hurt, she’ll just try and shut you out. Do. Not. Let. Her. Okay? She’ll brush it off and say she’s fine, but you _need_ to get her talking. You just have to click on her ‘I’m with a safe, trusted person’ switch and she’ll be okay.”

“Don’t let her wall me off. Got it.”

Kjelle crumpled her foil wrapper and wiped crumbs from the table. “Okay, I don’t think I’m forgetting anything. Consider that your primer.”

Lucina nodded and began cleaning up her half of the table, having gone through two of the three additional burgers and wrapped the third to take home. “I think I can handle that. I’m already taking care of one kid, after all.”

Kjelle let out a snort and laughed. “Oh, good one. Come on, I’ll pay for your cab.”

“Cab?”

“Yeah, I’m sure as hell not letting you walk home in that,” Kjelle pointed a thumb out the glass windows at the snowy city streets beyond. “Really, it’s no biggie. Consider it…thanks for taking such good care of Sevvy.”

Lucina smiled. “Alright.” She gathered up her things, donned her coat, and the two headed for the door. “Thank you again, Kjelle. For dinner, and…for all your help.”

“Hey, no problem, kid,” Kjelle clapped her shoulder. “Don’t hesitate to call me up if you need someone to watch Morgan, by the way.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Lucina said, fishing knit gloves out of her purse. She sneezed and wiped her nose.

 

///

 

Severa tapped the counter nervously, looking at the brightly-colored posters and signs adorning the walls of the waiting room. Somewhere, she could hear the faint muffled sounds of children laughing, playing, and in some cases, crying. She poked at a daycare pamphlet resting on the reception counter and paged through it.

The folded cardstock featured color photos of smiling childing, of supervisors and playsets and toys, and the whole thing was filled with advertisements for how _this_ daycare would aid your child’s cognitive development, or how it would foster growth and interpersonal relationships, and for a brief moment Severa wondered if her mom had left her at a daycare when she was little. She didn’t remember one, but a lot of her childhood was a blur at this point.

“Excuse me, miss?” a singsong voice rang out and Severa looked up, seeing that the desk was now occupied. “Can I help you?”

“Oh, hi,” Severa scrambled to get her wits together. “Um, I’m here to pick up Morgan.”

The receptionist looked at her expectantly.

“O-oh! Uh, Morgan Lowell.”

“Are you her mother?”

“No,” Severa exhaled.

“Her guardian?”

“No, but,” Severa began fishing through her purse for her ID. “Lucina said she put my name down for Morgan, so I can pick her up. My name’s Severa.” She slid her plastic ID card across the counter.

The receptionist looked from the ID to Severa, back again, then to her computer. She tapped at the keys and peered at a popup box. “Hmm…doesn’t look like you’re in the system yet.”

Severa rolled her eyes. “Okay, well…can you call Lucina or something? She’s at work late tonight and asked that I pick Morgan up.”

The receptionist sighed. “I’m sorry, but the policy is the policy. Only registered guardians can pick up their children.”

Severa leaned heavily on the counter and scowled. “What if I kick your ass,” she muttered.

“What was that?”

“I said ‘is there anything that can be done?’” Severa repeated sweetly. “What will happen to Morgan, then, if I can’t pick her up? Her mom doesn’t get off until eight.”

The receptionist looked at the clock. “Then I’d get comfortable for the next two hours.”

Severa sighed loudly, and her groan turned into a growl. “Can I at least go be with Morgan?”

The receptionist shook her head. “I’m sorry, miss.”

Severa stood on her tiptoes and peered past the desk, through the glass window of the door and into the daycare area beyond. “Come on, I can see her! There’s only like three other kids in there!” Upon seeing the receptionist ignoring her, Severa tapped her fingers impatiently against the countertop. “Please. Please, please, please. Okay? I’m asking you nicely.” She was determined to win. She could out-stubborn _anyone_ , this woman included. “Come on. Please.”

“Fine,” groaned the secretary. “If you want to go play with picture books, be my guest.” She dropped a logbook to the desk, where it clattered loudly. “You have to sign in and leave your ID with me.”

This was Severa’s first experience with the daycare system, and it did _not_ leave a good impression on her. Once she got past the dragon guarding the portcullis, though, she was pleasantly surprised to find the daycare was comfortable, spacious, and crammed wall-to-wall with the sorts of distractions perfect for small, excitable children. She tripped on a plastic truck and nearly face-planted into an ankle-high plastic table, at which point she heard the merciless cackle of toddlers.

She pushed herself upright and shot the offending children an angry sneer, at which point one started crying.

“Oh, no, oh, god, sorry, sorry, sorry!” Severa stammered, trying to calm the crier down. She scrambled to pick up a toy and settled on something bright, colorful, and overwhelmingly complex. She shook it, trying to figure out what it was and how it worked. There were hinges. She winced and gave it to the child.

“Here! Look! A toy!”

The child took it and Severa breathed a sigh of relief. A nature child caregiver.

She felt a tug and whipped around, almost bowling over a small and trembling Morgan whose tiny hands were clutched to Severa’s coat.

“Morgan!” Severa knelt. “Hey! Hi, how’s it going?”

Morgan sniffled and rubbed her eyes with little balled fists. “I wanna go home.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Severa hugged her lightly, still not quite sure what amount of strength to use with her. “It’s okay. We just have to wait a bit for your mama so show up, okay?”

“Why?”

“Bureaucratic inefficiency,” Severa muttered, sitting cross-legged at the short plastic table.  She patted the carpet next to her, inviting Morgan to toddle over and sit.

“Bu…burr…burra?” Morgan looked at her curiously and Severa laughed.

“Don’t worry about it,” she ruffled Morgan’s hair. “We can just hang out here, okay?”

“I wanna go home, though.”

“I know, but we can’t until your mama comes.”

“I wanna go home.” Morgan repeated her mantra, reaching out and grabbing a fistful of plastic bricks from a bin.

“Okay, well, why don’t we play with Legos for a bit?” Severa slid the bin closer and began to dig through for pieces. “Here, what do you want to build?”

“Go home,” Morgan muttered again, sifting through the bin. She withdrew a big green plate and began stacking bricks on top.

“Okay…” Severa watched her. “Did you have a good day? Luci- uh, mama told me you’ve been taking speech classes.”

Morgan shook her head. “Tawking cwass.”

“Sorry,” Severa smiled. “Talking class. Did you have class today?”

Morgan nodded and tried to fit two incompatible bricks together. Severa helped her pick a new set to put together.

“I’m going to build a spaceship,” Severa said confidently. “You think you can help me with that?”

Morgan nodded excitedly and Severa smirked, glad to have finally gotten a plan that worked. She knew that Morgan’s favorite books were space-oriented, and Lucina had even bought her glow-in-the-dark stars for her room, so she had a feeling this would work.

She listened to Morgan dawdle, sharing stories about her day – how she didn’t actually sleep during naptime and snuck a book to read, how she got a gold star on her chart in speech class, how she got put in time-out because James stole her toy and she got it back by pulling his chair out as he was sitting – Severa cackled at that, earning a glare from one of the daycare volunteers.

They played together for a bit, then Morgan dug out a pop-up book for Severa to read to her, and Severa was happy to see that Morgan had already read it. She did interrupt periodically to explain plot points and ensure Severa understood, and Severa was a _little_ miffed that she spoiled the ending of this twenty-year-old children’s book before they got to the end.

Snow pattered against the window, and the sky shifted from an afternoon grey to the darker tones of evening, with the twilight melting into a soft orange illumination of streetlights and passing cars.

The evening was quiet, and before Lucina had shown up, there was only one other child in the daycare – though Morgan was quick to tell Severa that _she_ had shown up at naptime, and hasn’t been here all day. Severa smiled softly. Morgan missed her mother, of course, but she seemed at least somewhat content with her world of books and toys and free snacks and internal heating.

Lucina stumbled through the door at sixteen past eight, long after the sun had set. The 24-hour daycare had changed for the night shift, and Severa was napping in a plastic chair while Morgan stacked plastic trucks as high as she could.

“Hey,” Lucina said softly, crouching.

“Mama!” Morgan cried, letting her tower collapse as she ran and threw her arms around her mom.

“Hey, Morgan,” Lucina held her tightly. “Hey, honey.”

“Mmhm? Wha?” Severa sat upright, losing her balance and falling to the carpet. “I wasn’t asleep! I was watching her!”

Lucina laughed. Hey, you two. Have a good day?”

“Hungry,” Severa muttered from the flat of her back on the carpet. “Need nap.”

“Did you take good care of Severa while mama was at work?” Lucina asked Morgan, who nodded triumphantly. “Good. Wanna go home?”

 

-

 

“Sorry about all that,” Lucina said, pushing her front door open and shuffling her daughter in. “I tried getting you on Morgan’s paperwork, but they said you’d have to either be her legal guardian or fill out all this extra paperwork. I’ll pick up the forms for you to fill out next time.”

“No problem,” Severa shrugged, taking her jacket off and hanging it by the door. She stomped the snow off her boots and kicked them off, letting them rest in a puddle of snowmelt next to Morgan’s and Lucina’s.

“I hope Morgan didn’t give you too much trouble,” Lucina smiled sheepishly. “She can be kind of a handful if she gets cranky.”

“Really,” Severa reassued her. “It’s fine, I promise. Come on, go get changed and I’ll get dinner started.”

“Are you sure you don’t need any help?”

Severa pointed at the hallway and made her way to the kitchen, deftly stepping over some discarded toys on her way. She began sifting through the freezer and refrigerator, trying to pick out what ingredients she could for a real dinner. She turned the knobs on the stove, wrinkling her brow when it clicked but didn’t light. On the third try she got it.

As she watched butter melting in a dented old frying pan, she leaned against the counter and closed her eyes.

She _wished_ she could do everything for Lucina – watching Morgan, doing the grocery shopping, the cooking, the cleaning, house maintenance…there was just too much for someone trying to balance two jobs and a kid. When Severa wasn’t there to cook dinner, Lucina and Morgan fell back on old habits – reheated takeout, freezer dinners, anything that could be cooked cheaply and quickly.

Severa had picked up the habit of wearing extra layers over to Lucina’s, a boon on cold evenings like this. The stove provided some amount of warmth, but nothing compared to curling up on the couch under a blanket with Lucina. She set a pot to boil and wrapped her arms tightly around herself.

“Hey,” Lucina said brightly, rounding the corner into the kitchen. She had pulled a sweater over her disheveled flannel shirt and the collar still stuck out – a little unkempt, but cute. Severa leaned forward and collected a kiss as she passed. “What’s for dinner?”

Severa frowned and poked at the assembled ingredients. “Stir-fry sound okay?”

“Morgan won’t like that,” Lucina laughed. “Too many veggies.”

“Well, she can deal,” Severa began throwing ingredients in the pan. “I can set aside just some meat and noodles for her.”

“Thanks,” Lucina kissed her on the cheek and joined her daughter on the couch.

Severa watched them as the food cooked – she watched Lucina leaning in close to listen to Morgan’s excited babbling, straightening Morgan’s clothes, or shifting and wrapping her worn blanket around herself. Soft laughter, gentle voices. She smiled.

“I’ll ask,” Lucina said, louder. She turned. “Are you staying over tonight?” she leaned on the back of the couch and grinned at Severa. “Morgan wants to know if she’s getting pancakes tomorrow.”

After dinner, the three of them sat on the couch together to watch some kids movie with Morgan. Severa only vaguely knew the title and honestly had next to zero investment in the plight of the animated characters on screen, but Morgan seemed enthralled. The bright colors and fun voices made her laugh with delight. Her favorite was the space cadet, as expected.

Surprisingly, Lucina made it to the end of the movie without falling asleep. Between them on the couch, though, Morgan was curled into her blanket, her arms tight around her stuff dragon, snoozing softly. Lucina shook her gently.

“Come on, honey. Let’s get you ready for bed.”

“Mmn?” Morgan rubbed her eyes with her fists. “Wanna stay…up…” she could barely make it through the sentence. Severa laughed quietly and helped her off the couch.

Severa sat up and stretched, working out the kinks in her spine with pops and cracks as Lucina and Morgan left the room. She began to tidy up, cleaning up their half-finished popcorn bowl and setting it in the sink. She was putting away clean dishes from dinner when arms wrapped tight around her abdomen and lips pressed against her neck.

She giggled and squirmed. “Hey, there.”

“Hey,” Lucina said softly in her ear before pressing her lips against it.

“You ready for bed already?” Severa turned, twisting in Lucina’s arms.

“You know, I’m not actually that tired,” Lucina said. “I was thinking maybe we could stay up and watch something a little more…adult-friendly.” Her face lit up scarlet. “N-no! Oh gosh, that’s-“ she stammered, breaking her embrace. “God, I mean, uh, I got a free pay-per-view movie and wanted to see this scary movie! Not…whatever you were thinking!”

Severa doubled over laughing.

“God, I’m so sorry, Severa,” Lucina said, her embarrassment giving way to laughter. “I promise I didn’t mean for that to be as sexy as it sounded, you just looked cute and I wanted to kiss you and ask you about staying up, and-MMPH!” her stammered excuse was cut off by Severa pressing her lips against hers. Severa pulled away, spasms of laughter still rippling through her ribcage. She wiped her eyes.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. God, you really need to work on phrasing, though.”

“You wanna grab some drinks while I get it set up? I think there’s some soda in the fridge.”

“Sure.”

Severa settled onto the couch at Lucina’s side, nestling against her and burrowing into her warm shoulder. She brought their shared blanket up to her neck, wrapping it tightly around them as Lucina fiddled with the remote and paged through menus of cheap pay-per-view movies. Severa did notice the cursor linger briefly on what Severa already knew to be a steamy lesbian romance film, but her knowing nudges to Lucina’s ribs quickly dispelled any notion.

“What?” Lucina asked. “I hadn’t heard of that before! I just wanted to know what it was about!”

“Mmhm,” Severa teased, “that’s what I’d say too.”

Lucina scowled and kissed the top of her head. They finally settled on the movie Lucina had mentioned before – some horror movie with an edgy name and a very black-and-red cover.

“Do you like scary movies?” Lucina asked as the opening credits rolled.

“Hm? I guess,” Severa said, hoping Lucina couldn’t hear her heartbeat quickening. “I like the ones with lots of blood.”

“Oh, those aren’t _horror_ movies,” Lucina scoffed. “There’s a fine line between horror movies and slasher movies. You’re talking about like, _Friday the 13 th_ and _Halloween_ and stuff, right?”

“Yeah, the teenagers-have-sex-then-get-murdered stuff. I like that.”

“What about the slow-creeping-dread kind of horror?”

“Sure.” Severa tightened her arm around Lucina. _We’ll find out,_ she thought.

She wasn’t much of a movie buff, but when it came to R-rated movies, Severa liked ‘em pulpy and trashy. If it didn’t have gore and/or tits, she _usually_ wasn’t interested. Dramas were too slow, and comedies always made her feel gross. Ironic, considering her and Kjelle’s high rate of consumption of grindhouse garbage. Though they were usually Kjelle’s picks.

Severa made it through a half an hour before the fear and continuous nervous drink sips got the better of her. “I need to go to the bathroom,” she declared, slipping out from their blanket nest and stumbling for the hall.

“Want me to pause it?”

Severa shook her head. “Just lemme know if I missed anything.” _Or don’t_ , she decided. The hallway from the living room to the bathroom was decidedly darker than she remembered, and it sounded so awfully quiet. She could hear the TV distantly, the creeping build of strings as something horrifying happened on screen.

With such a backdrop of sound, it was no surprise that she nearly had a heart attack walking past Morgan’s cracked door. Through the slit in the doorway, illuminated by the soft glow of a nightlight, was an intruder! Severa whipped the door open and –

Rolled her eyes. Morgan’s snow-jacket was hung on the closet door, giving the impression of some ominous ten-foot shifting humanoid lurking in the corner. Severa let out a frustrated sigh and rubbed her scalp. Maybe she should have told the truth and admitted that she had the fear-resistance of a hummingbird.

She stooped over Morgan’s toddler bed and watched the little girl sleep, her tiny arms wrapped around her stuffed dragon, a thumb stuck in her mouth. Severa smiled and reached down to smooth out her blanket and adjust a disheveled corner. All the fear seemed to evaporate as she watched Morgan’s tiny frame. She hadn’t thought much about kids in the past, but this one had to be the _cutest_. The best kid. The greatest baby ever. She had her mother’s eyes, when she was awake, the same blue that sparkled with curiosity and fascination at the world around her. Severa bent down and kissed her lightly on the forehead, whispering a soft ‘sleep tight’ as she did. She had almost forgotten entirely about being afraid.

Unfortunately, the fear returned as she made the dark trek from the bathroom back to the dim living room. She dashed with reckless abandon, vaulting over the back of the couch and diving back under the blanket to the safety of Lucina’s side, quick to tuck her feet up and burrow back into Lucina’s arms.

“A little scared?” Lucina teased.

“N-no, just…cold,” Severa made an attempt.

“You missed some pretty spooky scenes,” Lucina said quietly, planting a kiss on Severa’s head. “They were in the backyard and saw a shadow in the attic window, and when they went to investigate the attic was empty, but-“

“NOPE! NOPE!” Severa clamped her hands over her ears. “Don’t wanna hear it!”

Lucina giggled and wrapped a tight arm around Severa. “It’s okay. If any ghosts come knocking, I’ll protect you.”

“You’d _better_ ,” Severa scowled, nuzzling her shoulder.

Severa, paralyzed by fear, with eyes glued to the television screen, was surprised to find a warm, slender hand fussing with the hem of her shirt. Lucina slipped her hand under her pajamas and rested it against her stomach. “Is this okay?” she whispered. Severa nodded, tilting her head up to kiss Lucina’s lips. Anything to keep her eyes from the supernatural goings-on on screen. Lucina’s hand pressed tight against her and her fingertips drifted, dancing across the waistband of Severa’s pants. In turn, Severa shifted, laying against Lucina and resting a hand on the outside of her shirt, tracing the outline of her bra.

Their lips pressed tighter and Severa was halfway to working up the courage to slip her tongue out when a screech from the TV screen startled them both back to attention. Severa’s heartrate skyrocketed, shifting all at once from romantic anxiety to sheer terror. The haunting specter on screen kept them clinging tight against each other but dispelled any future attempts at wandering hands.

By the film’s conclusion, they were practically entwined, clutching each other in fear. The dark room grew all the darker as the screen cut to black for the credits roll. Lucina and Severa stayed still, neither willing to break the stillness first for fear of inviting supernatural retribution.

“Okay we just…we gotta turn the lights on,” Severa said at last. “You can do that, right?”

Lucina nodded and remained still.

“Hey!” Severa prodded her. “What happened to protecting me from the ghosts!”

“It’s the ghosts’ apartment now,” Lucina muttered, pulling the blanket over her head. “This couch is now our home.”

Severa shifted, accepting the answer and resting her head against Lucina’s chest. “We…we can just sleep here, right? We don’t have to get up and walk all the way down that dark hallway?”

Lucina nodded and kissed her cheek, then her lips. “I’m game if you’re game.”

Severa smiled and closed her eyes, letting the hazy light of the TV and the soft rhythm of Lucina’s heartbeat lull her to sleep. Ghosts didn’t matter – nothing could touch her here, nestled in her lover’s arms.

 

///

 

Severa knocked on the door, her gloved knuckles rapping against the hard wood with a dull thump. She exhaled and through the filter of her scarf, her breath clouded in front of her. She shivered, wrapped her arms around herself, and leaned back against the railing to survey the street. A fresh coast of snow coated everything, covering the cracked cement and weed-grown sidewalks with a blanket of soft, powdery white. The morning sun sparkled off the power, glinting like a sea of tiny diamonds.

Severa scowled and dropped her sunglasses in front of her eyes. Nursing a hangover was a bad way to start a weekend, but she had grand plans for today, and her and Kjelle’s late-night revelry the night before sure wasn’t going to muck it up.

She knocked again.

Lucina opened the door on the third knock. “Oh, hey!” She said brightly, tugging her flannel pajamas tight to ward off the chill from the morning breeze. “Come in, come in!” She ushered Severa in and shut the door behind her. “I didn’t expect to see you this early.”

“Yeah, well…” Severa cleared her throat, realizing she sounded a bit hoarser than she thought. Her head pulsed, and the music from cartoons flashing on the TV certainly didn’t help. She coughed and her stomach lurched. “I was getting coffee and figured I’d just come straight here instead of going back home, you know?”

Lucina smirked, knowing full well how Severa’s previous night had gone. “Coffee, huh?”

“Shh,” Severa hushes her, pressing a finger to her lips. “Shhhh. Don’t worry about it. I’m here now.”

“I’ll put on some chicken noodle soup for you,” Lucina offered, helping Severa remove her coat.

“Ew, soup? For breakfast?!” Severa balked at the idea.

“It’s a good hangover breakfast,” Lucina said, crossing the living room to the kitchen. “Restocks sodium levels, helps get back hydration, comes with carbs, proteins, and fat. I promise, it’ll help. And it tastes a hell of a lot better than Pedialyte.”

Severa scowled and sat next to Morgan on the couch. She ruffled her hair. “Heya, kiddo. How’s it going?”

“Good!” Morgan extracted her thumb from her mouth. “Mama made bweakfast. Not as good as Sevwah pancakes.”

Severa grinned. “You hear that? That’s another vote for me.”

“Oh, hush,” Lucina smirked, stirring the pot of canned soup she set on the stove. “You could have made her breakfast if you weren’t out partying all night. How’d it go, by the way?”

“Fine,” Severa grumbled, resting her head in her hands, knowing ‘tequila shots’ was a tasteless answer. She knew better than to go head-to-head with Kjelle, who was made of solid muscle. “Kjelle sends her best.”

“Sounds like you all had quite a night. You'll have to introduce me to Noire, sometime, by the way!"

"Hm? Sure, I...yeah," Severa took a moment to think about how that meeting might go. She shrugged. It'd happen at some point, probably.

"Anyway, I’m surprised you’re even alive this morning.”

“Yeah, well,” Severa shrugged and stretched. “I got big plans for today.”

“Oh?” Lucina sat down next to her, setting a steaming bowl of soup on the coffee table. “Go on, eat up.”

Severa sat up and begrudgingly obeyed, though each sip of broth made her stomach lurch.

“Big plans, you say?”

Severa nodded and swallowed. “Mmhm. It’s a surprise. You have off today, right? Like, the whole day free?”

“That’s right.”

“Perfect.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is....so late. Sorry about that. Enjoy!

“Hold on tight, okay, Morgan?” Lucina said, one hand wrapped tightly around her daughter’s tiny fingers. Her other hand was extended outwards and wrapped around the subway pole, her fingerless gloves slipping on the cold metal. Even here, nestled in the bowels of the city, the air was frosty, and the overbearing sound of hot air blowing from the subway car fans did little but make conversation difficult.

Severa, unsurprisingly, looked in her element; her snazzy and stylish black jacket and immaculate hair framed against the steel of the train-car, the lights of the tunnel outside the window zipping by and illuminating Severa’s frame in flashes of dull orange light.

“Have you two taken the train downtown much?” Severa asked, taking a cautious step forward. Even today, on a day off, she was wearing short heeled thigh-high boots that matched her jacket, and Lucina found herself marveling. What the hell was a girl like Severa doing with her? With her, in her ratty thrift-store jeans and years-old flannel shirt. They just seemed worlds apart – Severa’s tasteful and refined appearance and Lucina’s scrappy prudence. And in the middle, Morgan, in her new department-store sweater, her hand twined in Lucina’s.

“Hm?” Lucina takes her attention away from the upper termination of Severa’s boots and looked at the girl herself. “Sorry, what was that?”

“Have you two taken the train downtown? I know you don’t get out much, but the fare isn’t too bad.”

Lucina shook her head. “Not usually, no. Can’t say we’ve had much reason to.”

Severa grinned, leaning back against the cold metal of the car door. “I think Morgan’ll like it a lot.”

“So what is the plan for the day?” Lucina smiled in kind, taking a tentative step towards Severa. She didn’t ride the train often, so her feet were unsteady on the shifting floor. How Severa managed to walk just fine in heels was a mystery. “Your ‘big surprise’, you said?”

Severa smiled and pressed a finger to her lips. “Told you! It’s a surprise!”

Before Lucina could protest, the traincar plunged into a vortex of light.

The train rocketed out of the underground and into a field of sparkling white snow. The tracks elevated it up above the city streets, above avenues thick with the nights’ accumulated precipitation.

Morgan’s eyes lit up, startled and amazed. She slipped her hand out of Lucina’s and toddled towards a window, pressing her fingers against the glass and leaving tiny smudge marks. The train hit a bump in the tracks and Severa caught Morgan before she could stumble. “You see that?” Severa asked, smiling and pointing out the window.

From the elevated tracks, they could see the train route as it weaved in a broad sweep over neighborhoods and city streets, heading towards its final destination – downtown, the beating heart of the city, all skyscrapers and glittering glass towers and concrete behemoths looming over the cramped streets like lumbering, snow-covered giants. Glass panels lit up with electric blue in the morning sunlight, reflecting flurries of snow and a sky dotted with wispy clouds.

Morgan cooed in awe.

“That’s where we’re going!” Severa pointed again. “We’ll be downtown in just a few more minutes.”

“And just where are we going downtown?” Lucina took Morgan’s hand and held her steady as she stared at the streets zipping by below.

“What’s it matter? I thought you had never been.”

“Never with Morgan, no,” Lucina corrected, straightening herself and dropping a hand to each of Morgan’s shoulders, at once protective and comforting. “But my father works for the city, remember? I used to intern at City Hall. I know my way around, more or less. Provided it hasn’t changed too much in the last few years.”

Severa gave a wry smile. “I don’t know, with the amount of construction they do around the overpass, they’ve probably entirely changed the layout since the last time you were there.” She paused. “I suppose we have your dad to thank for all of that.”

Lucina sighed. “Yes, I suppose so.”

“You’ll see, though.”

 

-

 

As predicted, Morgan was indeed in awe. With her hands entwined each with one of her caretakers’, she led the charge, stumbling down the steps of the train station and out into the narrow-crowded center-city streets. She stared at the buildings towering above, far outstretching anything she had seen in her four years.

“So what about you?” Lucina asked as they walked. “You get downtown much? I know you work in the financial district, so…”

Severa shrugged. “Often enough. Sometimes my mom likes to take us out for fancy dinners and stuff, and Kjelle and I have been to a few concerts at the theater up ahead. But mostly I come here for the shops.”

Lucina raised an eyebrow at that. She knew shopping ran through Severa like blood in her veins, but she was surprised to hear she could even __afford__  some of these stores. “Really?”

Severa beamed. “Speaking of which…” She steered the trio across a crosswalk and towards a glass building, one of the many that huddled around downtown like a cluster of crystals. Lucina sighed, expelling a puff of frosty breath as she read the gold-lettered name emblazoned on the glass entrance.

“A mall, Severa? Really?” She pouted, though even her fake disdain couldn’t hide the happiness across her face. As much as Severa loved it, the two of them had never been shopping, and Lucina struggled to place the last time she had been in a mall. Maybe high school, she figured, but she wasn’t sure.

“Yep!” Severa said proudly, letting go of one of Morgan’s hands to rest her own on her hips triumphantly. “We’re gonna do something about…” she gestured loosely at Lucina. “Your whole thing.”

“My…thing.”

“You’re far too pretty to hide your light under a bushel like you do, so today we’re finally going to get around to fixing that.”

Lucina sighed. It’s not that she wasn’t grateful for Severa’s plan, but… “Severa, there’s no way I can afford buying anything from…from __any__  of these stores! I’d hesitate to get something at the food court!”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m paying for today.”

Lucina stopped in her tracks. “N-no, Severa, I can’t let you-“

“Why not?”

“It’s…okay. Fine. A __few__  things.”

“Great!” Severa winked. “First things first, we’re doing something about this,” she said, fingering a stray lock of Lucina’s hair.

Lucina pouted. “I like my hair,” she said, pulling away and defensively combing her fingers through it. “What’s wrong with it?”

“It just needs a little….neatening. Come on, I know a gal.”

 

-

 

Lucina, who was used to cutting her own and Morgan’s hair with scissors in the bathroom, wasn’t sure if she had ever seen so many hair products in a single store. They sat in the waiting room of some fancy high-brow salon, awaiting their name being called and Lucina being led to her fate. She wasn’t sure __why__  she was so nervous – it was just a haircut, after all, but something about the posters and magazines covered with celebrity hairstyles made her feel self-conscious about her split ends. She nervously combed through her hair with her fingers, trying to work out knots to avoid the embarrassment of the stylist having to do it.

“What do you think?” Severa asked Morgan as the two paged through a style magazine. “Think your mama would look good with something like this?” She pointed to some celebrity-of-the-week type that Lucina couldn’t name.

Morgan stuck her thumb in her mouth and shook her head.

“What about this?” Severa pointed again. “Something a little shorter?”

That got a nod.

“Don’t suck your thumb,” Lucina chided gently, taking Morgan’s hand away from her mouth. “You’ve been touching things all morning.”

Morgan slipped her thumb back into her mouth the second Lucina looked away.

A woman approached them, her fashion sense rivaling Severa’s own. Her hair, too, shimmered with a dark blue sheen and seemed to cascade in ripples from her high ponytail.

“Selena?” She asked, wiping her hands on her shirt.

Severa looked up and smiled. “Hey, Oboro!”

Oboro smiled back. “Nice to see you again. I’ll be with you folks shortly, okay?” And then she was off.

Lucina frowned at Severa. “Selena?”

Severa pursed her lips and tried to combat a laugh. “Uh, well…”

“Did you give them a fake name?” Lucina hissed. “Why?!”

“Shhh!” Severa hushed her. “Listen, you didn’t hear it from __me__ , but…” she looked around, her voice low and conspiratorial. “There used to be a girl who attended this salon by the name of Severa. She was a real menace, and unfortunately, she’s no longer allowed at this establishment.”

Lucina cracked a smile of disbelief. “You got banned?! How?!”

“Shh!” Severa hissed. “Shh! Not so loud. Listen. __Severa__  got kicked out because she and a stylist got into a fight. But that was a long time ago, before Oboro came here. But she’s great, I love her.”

Lucina stifled laughter. “Okay, but you __have__  to tell me why…Severa got banned.”

“Fine.”

“Hey, there, Selena!” Oboro said brightly, returning to the waiting area. “I wasn’t expecting to see you in again so soon!”

Severa smiled and shook her head. “Not for me, this time.” She indicated Lucina. “Think you can handle a mop like this?”

Oboro nodded. “I’m sure we can find something to do with it.” She shook Lucina’s hand as she stood. “You must be Lucina. Selena’s told me a bit about you.”

Lucina shot Severa an inquisitive look but followed Oboro back into the salon. Severa took Morgan’s hand and followed them, the two watching as Lucina got sat down into a chair and examined.

“So what are we looking at, here?”

Lucina settled into the chair, shrinking as Oboro pored over her hair, lifting handfuls and gazing at the split ends. Lucina stared at her shoes, trying not to blush. She felt like she was being ogled, and Severa’s smug grin didn’t help.

“Lucina,” Oboro said at last, taking a step back. She frowned. “How often do you wash your hair?”

“Er…” Lucina looked up, not knowing the right answer to give. She looked to Severa for help and winced. “E…every day? Right?”

Oboro let out an uncertain “hmm”.

“Okay, every…other day. Wh…whenever I remember to shower.”

Severa shot Oboro a look, and the stylist raised her eyebrows.

“See, I told you,” Severa said. Oboro nodded knowingly, leaving Lucina flustered in the middle.

“What?” she asked, flailing. “How often am I supposed to? Every day, right?”

Oboro sighed and Severa joined her, both despairing at Lucina’s hopelessness. Oboro shook her head and crossed her arms. “You really weren’t kidding.”

Lucina pouted at Severa. Gossiping behind her back? Some friend __she__  was.

Oboro lifted a lock of Lucina’s hair and fingered it lightly, humming. “Yes, well…perhaps you were right, Selena. Might be best to just chop it all off and start again.”

“What?” Lucina cried, swiveling her chair back to Severa. “It’s not _ _that__  hopeless, is it?”

Severa grimaced and shrugged, making Lucina’s fear turn to despair.

“Oh, god, is it really that bad?” She swiveled again and looked it the mirror. She didn’t look __that__  bad, she thought. Maybe a little…rough around the edges, sure, but… She brushed her unkempt bangs out of her eyes and tucked a stray lock behind her ear. Her hair fell in messy waves, piling on her shoulders and cascading down her back. In the harsh fluorescent lights of the salon, she did admit her hair looked a bit… _ _oily__.

In her defense, looks had __never__  been a priority - except maybe on dates. When she was young she just didn’t care, and her father’s mop haircuts didn’t inspire much confidence, and now, with Morgan…she just had more to worry about than __hair__. She scowled. “Fine. Do whatever you want.”

“Aw, come on, Luci,” Severa rested a hand on her shoulder. “We’re just teasing.”

Lucina shifted in the salon chair uncomfortably. “Just…do whatever.”

Severa and Oboro made knowing eye contact again, a shared knowledge of years of fashion and hair styling concepts passing between the two of them in a single instant of unspoken communication. Oboro pursed her lips, thinking, and Severa brushed Lucina’s hair back, pulling it behind her ears and draping it down her back.

“How about…” Oboro took the reins from Severa and bunched Lucina’s hair up, pulling it behind her into a tight bundle. She worked some sort of magic trickery, and the Lucina in the mirror stared back with a short, stylish bob. “Something like this.”

“Erm…” Lucina reached up to touch her hair. “Isn’t that a little…dramatic?” She certainly wouldn’t miss her damp hair freezing to her jacket on her morning commute, as it sometimes did, but she still felt some trepidation about such a radical change.

“I think it’d look marvelous.”

Lucina looks to Severa to confirm, and she nods. “It’s cute,” she smiled. “Easier to take care of, too.” She patted Morgan’s head gently. “What do you think, kiddo?”

Morgan, who had been sitting quietly (Lucina realized now this was because she had her thumb stuck in her mouth again), piped up. “Cute!”

“The ayes have it,” Severa grinned. “What do you think, Lucina?”

“Um…” Lucina tried to bail. “I like it, but…uh…How about just a trim? Just neaten it up a bit or something. Nothing __too__  expensive.”

“Oh, no you don’t,” Severa shook her head. “We’re doing the works. Cut, wash, color, highlights, you name it - you can just put it on my account. You said you wanted a project, right Oboro?”

Oboro grinned. Lucina sunk down even further into her salon chair, trying to bury herself under the styling cape Oboro was draping over her, trying to conceal her blush and pointedly __not__  look at the absurdly expensive pricing menu.

“This may take awhile,” Oboro gestures to Severa, inviting her to step out for a bit. As Oboro reaches for the scissors, Lucina can’t help but feel like some horror-movie victim, watching as her captor selects the right tools from a tray of metal instruments.

 

-

 

Severa and Morgan sat on a bench outside the mall’s central plaza, watching the colored water shift and shimmer in an elegant fountain.

“Come on, you’re getting it on your shirt,” Severa takes a napkin to Morgan’s chin, wiping a stream of vanilla cream from her lips. She smiles. “Bet your mama never lets you have ice cream for lunch, huh?”

Morgan shakes her head proudly, beaming. Her kiddy cone of vanilla is already dripping down her fingers, and Severa regrets not getting a dish instead. She scowls, dabbing at Morgan’s little sweater frantically. “You’re hopeless, you know what?”

Morgan looked at her with big, curious eyes. “Hopewess.”

“You’re…” Severa cracked a smile. “Messy,” she said, clearly pronouncing the word.

“That’s what mama says,” Morgan turns back to her treat.

“Yeah,” Severa smiled again, ruffling Morgan’s hair. She leaned back against the wooden bench and let an arm drape across the back, protective of Morgan, ready to leap up at a moment’s notice in the case of any more ice-cream-based crises. If Severa shifted, she could look into the salon and see Oboro at work - currently Lucina was leaning back, her mess of blue hair soaking as Oboro prepares a dye of some sort. She leaned her head back, cracked her neck, and refocused her vision on the child before her. Light filtered in through the skylight four floors above, casting beams of white across the mall’s polished tile landscape, drawing a sharp contrast to the messy toddler in Severa’s arms.

Morgan turned to stare at Severa, her wide eyes unblinking and unmoving as she tries to eat and fails, rubbing ice cream all over her face.

“Hey, uh…Morgan…”

Morgan stared at her.

“Does your mom ever…” Severa leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “Does she ever talk about me?”

Morgan nodded and bit down on her ice cream. She immediately regretted the decision, deciding the cold was too much for her little toddler teeth. She shrieks, dropping the cone with a wet __splort__  onto the polished tile ground.

__Oh, no.__ Severa braced herself.

Morgan wailed, balling her hands into tiny fists, throwing her head back, and sobbing with all the wild abandon that a four-year-old bereft of ice cream can muster.

“Oh, jeez, oh, no,” Severa froze, her hands searching desperately for something to do to remedy the situation. “Oh, uh, uh, uh, uh…” she stammered, sliding off the bench and kneeling, gently touching Morgan with reassuring hands. “Shh, no, honey…shh…aww, it’s okay. It’s okay.”

Severa twisted her neck from side to side, her face burning under the gaze of passerby staring at her vain efforts to calm the distraught child.

“Aww, honey. Shhh…it’s okay,” Severa wiped the tears from her cheeks. “It’s okay. We can go get a new one, okay?”

Morgan, petulant, shook her head. She didn’t want another ice cream, she wanted __her__  ice cream. Severa drew her into a soft hug.

“Shh…there, there. It’s okay.”

Morgan sobbed into her shoulder, and when Severa pulled away her black jacket was smeared with tears and snot. She grimaced and wiped it with a napkin.

Morgan sniffled and rubbed her eyes with her fists, still choking out sobs.

“Yeah, there you go,” Severa said in her most reassuring voice. “See? It’s okay.” She rested her hands on her hips proudly. Maybe this parenting thing wasn’t too hard after all -

Even before the thought finished forming in her brain, Morgan wails again.

 

-

 

The Lucina who emerged from the salon was like a new woman. It was still Lucina, that much was certain - the careworn face and shabby clothes confirmed that much, but she was truly a sight to behold. True to Oboro’s suggestion, her long mop of hair was trimmed back into a neat, middling-length bob that curled in around her ears, and her messy bangs were neatened into something a little more presentable. Her navy locks were flecked with glitters of darker blue, and her whole head seemed to glow with the vibrancy of the night sky. Gone was the matted, greasy texture, replaced with the aura of a fresh wash and the sparkle of some sort of shimmering hair product. She bashfully tucked a stray lock behind her ear, blushing. “Um…does it look okay?”

Severa’s jaw was currently occupying a space somewhere around Morgan’s dropped ice cream cone.

“Uh…” she fumbled for the words, unable to form coherent thoughts beyond simple, fundamental concepts.

“Mama!” Morgan’s tears halted the moment she saw her mother and she threw her arms around Lucina’s legs.

“Hey, little one.” Lucina smiled softly and knelt, fixing Morgan’s collar and wiping her face.

Severa stared, her brain stuck in some gridlock between gay astonishment and subtle pride. __That was her girlfriend?__  She was frozen, watching Lucina tend to her daughter.

“Is she okay?” Lucina’s face darkened, seeing Morgan’s puffy eyes and tearstained cheeks. “Did something happen?”

“Sevsev dwopped my ice cweam.”

Severa winced.

“Oh, no!” Lucina’s voice was thick with false alarm. “Well, that’s no good at all. Has she apologized?”

Morgan shook her head and Lucina flashed a smiled towards Severa.

“Severa? Do you think you could apologize?”

“Wh-” Severa frowned. “I mean, I…” she caught Lucina’s meaningful eyebrow raise. “I’m sorry, Morgan.”

“There,” Lucina said, satisfied, and Morgan nodded her head. “All better?” She got to her feet, slipping her hand into Morgan’s. “Besides, isn’t it a little early to be eating ice cream?”

Severa blushed. “She wanted it, and I’m a pushover,” she admitted. Lucina laughed, and Severa could feel her heart lift in her chest. To see Lucina like this - beautiful, caring, dare she say __angelic__  - it was more than she could have ever hoped for.

“Well, did the two of you find any good shops to check out?”

 

-

 

To say Lucina’s wardrobe needed an update would have perhaps been an understatement. The understatement of the century, as Severa would tell it. It needed less of an update than it perhaps needed an intervention, or a network television feel-good special, or perhaps just a nice cleansing arson case.

Lucina, all things considered, didn’t think it was that bad. She nervously pressed a hand against her hip, hoping no one would notice the moth-holes worn into her shirt, as she and Severa picked through racks and racks of clothing far outside Lucina’s price range.

Lucina picked up a tag and gawked. __Eighty dollars for a pair of jeans?! A HUNDRED for a dress?! Who on earth paid this much?__

Severa bundled an armful of clothes into Lucina’s arms. “Okay, I had to ballpark your size since I don’t know your measurements, but this is probably a good place to start.”

Lucina fumbled, the pile of clothes surprisingly weighty. She tried sifting through it as she stood, her fingers passing over lace and denim and frills and all sorts of nonsense. She frowned. “Isn’t this…a bit much?”

“Well, you’re not going to get __all__  of that, right? Just pick a few things you like. Oh, and take pictures so I can see!” Severa said encouragingly, shoving her towards the dressing room. “Especially the dress, I think it’d match your hair beautifully.”

“The…dress?” Lucina nodded, stumbling into a changing room and letting her pile of clothes flop to the bench. Morgan and Severa were probably picking over the sale racks, so Lucina finally took a moment to breathe. She flopped down on the changing stall bench heavily and stared at herself in the mirror. In the harsh glow of the fluorescent lights, she certainly didn’t __feel__  beautiful. She unbuttoned her flannel shirt and let it hang loosely on her shoulders as she picked the first garment to try on. She started simple - a pair of black jeans. As she wriggled her hips into them, she couldn’t help but feel…guilty? That was a weird feeling, right? She sighed, staring at herself in the new pair of stylish jeans. She rotated. __Oh, god, is my ass…did she pick these on purpose?__ She pressed a flat hand to her back and traced the curve of her hips. Well, they were certainly…flattering.

Over the course of the next fifteen minutes she tried on all sorts of things, things she had no prior experience with - she rejected the crop tops flat-out, irritated at the way they hung loosely on her bony shoulders and thin stomach. She liked the jeans, and the pair of slim-fit dress pants. She also selected from the pile ribbed sweater tights and a matching sweater, though the skirt Severa had picked for the ensemble was a little…garish. She frowned at the gold-trimmed denim and set it aside.

Her phone buzzed, buried in the pile of discards and tags and hangers and her old ratty flannel. __Oh, yeah. Pictures.__

She was loathe to take pictures - she had never really gotten the hang of taking pictures of herself, and her camera roll was almost entirely Morgan, so the fluorescent lighting made her skin look bad, and she felt stupid, so she put the phone away.

By the time she emerged from the dressing room, she had two articles of clothing draped over her arms - the sweater, and a simple black skirt that’s sale price declared to be only ten dollars.

“Hey, Luci,” Severa said, looking up from a rack of necklaces. “You get some…” She frowned. “Hey, what gives? I sent you in there with like twenty things.”

“Yeah, well…” Lucina rubbed her scalp sheepishly. “I don’t know. I just…”

Severa shook her head, scowling. “No, no, no! You are not weaseling out of this. I want you to go back in there and get the stuff you liked. Unless…” a thought crossed her mind that seemed to horrify her. “Oh, no. Lucina, do you not know what good clothes look like?” She dropped her armful of clothes and grasped Lucina’s shoulder. “Lucina, can you tell? Did you not know what looked good?” The level of concern in her voice rivaled the time she called to tell Lucina Morgan had gotten sick on the couch.

Lucina laughed and pushed her away. “No, I liked a few things…It just seems like a lot. How about just these?” She holds up her haul. Severa glares.

“Okay, fine. But at the next store you __have__  to pick more stuff.”

“The… _ _next__  store?”

 

-

 

Lucina knew that Severa liked shopping. She talked about it often. She went with her mom, she went with Kjelle, she went with Noire, she went by herself. She would send selfies to Lucina after work of her trying on dressed in some boutique, or her stockpiling leggings at a closeout sale. She always seemed to know when sales were happening, or which stores had deals, and she had __very__  strong opinions about which brands sold good jeans or good shoes or good…whatever. She talked a good deal about __craftsmanship__ , and __make quality__ , and stitching. It all flew over Lucina’s head, but...to be __in__  it was something else entirely. To be whisked away to another world, one of cloth and silk and lace and denim, of bright fluorescent lights and pastel display mannequins - it was all quite overwhelming. Lucina held tight to Morgan’s hand, as if she were afraid she would lose her among the racks and rows of dresses and skirts and frilly blouses.

By the time the morning crowd shifted to late afternoon, Lucina was exhausted. In her free hand she held a shopping bag, in which was nested __more__  shopping bags - she had sweaters, she had blouses, she had skirts, she had new jeans. Severa picked out new flannel shirts for her - similar in pattern to her favorites, but obviously of a higher quality. She picked out jeans, she picked out thick wool socks and thermal leggings. Knowing Lucina’s living situation, she placed priority on warmth and comfort, a fact Lucina appreciated when she spied Severa’s own shopping bag - her taste was…eclectic to say the least. But that didn’t stop Severa from snagging some light lacy tops and sundresses - “Spring is soon, you know,” she said, despite it being mid-winter. “This is the time to buy it. You can get out-of-season clothes pretty cheap.” It was a flimsy excuse for buying Lucina an __alarmingly__  short pair of shorts, which Severa demanded a selfie in. And what entailed was a brief diversion to make out in a dressing room, for which they were politely asked to leave the store, so they did it again at a different store.

They took a break midway through shopping for a quick lunch pit-stop which consisted of coffee and sandwiches from the cafe, and Severa also insisted that they take a second break for manicures and pedicures. Lucina had __never__ , not __once__ , gotten either. The only way Severa managed to convince her way because it let her be off her feet for an hour. Severa, of course, joined her for that, and once again seemed to know the woman quite well. They chatted the entire time, mostly Severa complaining about her mother, and Lucina took the opportunity to sink back in her chair and doze off, keeping one half-lidded eye on Morgan as she read a brand-new book Severa bought her.

Because of course Severa couldn’t help but spoiler her rotten, too. They stopped at two toy stores, one to look at books and the other to get Morgan a little toy rocket ship, which she then spent the remainder of the day using as an excuse to make whooshing noises.

The skylights overhead shifted with the changing sky, melting from the bright blues of morning to a hazy afternoon grey, and then at last to the fiery glow of an orange sunset. The lights came on in the mall, bathing the crystalline palace in a glow of bright, twinkling lights. Lucina was nearly dead on her feet.

“Okay, one more stop to go.”

The words brought relief to Lucina’s worn body like a flood of warmth, and she had to stop herself from physically sighing. Her relief shifted into dread as she read the storefront.

“N-no, Sev, I don’t think…”

“Come on,” Severa grumbled, grabbing her arm and tugging her inside.

Lucina’s gaze bounced nervously around the store, passing over mannequins clad in silk panties and lace bralettes, past display racks loaded with push-up bras and all sorts of frilly, superfluous nonsense. “No, Sev, really, I…”

Severa whirled around, seemingly unfazed by the day’s excursion. Her eyes glowed with righteous fury. Or maybe just righteous indignation.

“I know you need new underwear, Lucina. Your bras are too small, the underwire digs into your ribs, and you always have indents in your skin when you change.”

“Yeah, well…” Lucina nervously thumbed the hem of her shirt. It was never a priority, particularly with costs being what they were.

“God, Luci. You had a __kid!__ And didn’t think that would effect what underwear you needed?” Severa fumed. “Ugh, you dolt. Come on.” She took Morgan’s hand in one of hers, pushing Lucina deeper into the store. “Do you know what size you are, or do we need to get you fitted?”

Lucina’s cheeks matched Severa’s hair.

And yet again, it seemed like Severa knew someone. “Hello, Severa!” came a bright and cheerful voice, as Lucina tried melding into the shadow of the mannequin at her side.

By the time Lucina returned with her __exact measurements__ , Severa had already powered through most of the store, picking out a few new garments for herself. Lucina found her in the back, gazing wistfully at a selection of lingerie. She was thumbing the fabric of a satin negligee when Lucina tapped her shoulder.

“Ah!” Severa jumped, startled. “Oh! Lu…Lucina. Hey! How’d it go?”

“Good,” she grinned, reveling in Severa’s embarrassment. “Looking for something in particular?”

Severa scowled. “Shouldn’t you be buying bras that actually fit you?”

“I picked two,” Lucina held them aloft, lacy Excaliburs pulled from the sale rack. Severa squinted, sighed, and assented.

“What about this?” Severa asked, turning to another mannequin. The color drained from Lucina’s face.

“Uh…the whole ensemble, or like…”

“Mmhm.” Severa tilted her head to the side, no doubt picturing Lucina in it. It was elegant…or, something. The complete package - a high-necked black lace teddy, complete with a garter belt and matching leggings. Lucina flushed.

“Uh. It’s.”

“It’s pretty,” Severa hummed and traced the hemmed edge of lace, running her finger over the mannequin’s hip.

“It’s eighty dollars.”

“Mmhm,” Severa nodded, pursing her lips. “Would you wear it, though?”

Lucina’s heart caught in her chest. They had been joking, sure, but now Severa’s low, breathy voice hinted at excitement, at passion. She was into it.

 

-

 

Lucina slid into the restaurant booth and tugged Morgan alongside her, taking care to adjust her askew sweater and smooth out her ruffled hair. She was exhausted - the day was long for Lucina, a chronically tired adult, but for Morgan’s little legs it was like she had run a marathon. Severa carried her out to the street, with Morgan’s arms wrapped around her neck and her gentle snoozing snores pressed against her ear. Morgan had woken up, now, and was at just the worst intersection of cranky and tired that a four-year-old was capable of. The day of spectacle and color was wearing off, and now she was __tired.__

Lucina had taken her to the bathroom to wash her hands and was begrudgingly letting her suck her thumb, because the alternative would be a toddler wailing in an alarmingly fancy restaurant. Even her new rocket ship couldn’t fix her rumbling stomach.

Severa sidled into the booth across from them, the fourth seat being taken up by their pile of shopping bags.

“Is it alright if I get a drink?” She asked, poking experimentally at the drink menu.

Lucina nodded, sinking into her booth and pressing her forehead against the table. “If someone comes to take our order and I’m asleep, just get me something with caffeine,” she mumbled. Their waitress brought them their drinks - a fancy girly cocktail for Severa, and a coke for Lucina. Morgan opted for a sippy cup of apple juice.

Lucina stared at the menu, her soul detaching from her body. __What the hell?__

“Severa…there’s no way I can afford any of this.” She balked at the prices. “I thought I said to take us to a normal restaurant!”

“This __is__  normal,” Severa stirred her cocktail. “I mean, we’re downtown. Stuff’s a lot nicer here, y’know?”

“Twenty-five dollars for chicken and pasta?”

“It’s good. I make my mom buy me that when we come here.”

Lucina narrowed her eyes. “Severa…”

“Look, Lucina.” Severa set her menu down and folded her hands over it. “I…I like you, okay? I __want__  to spoil you. Seeing you and Morgan happy is…” she pursed her lips. “There’s nothing I would rather spend my money on. Look at me. I split rent in a shitty two-bedroom apartment uptown, I work a job that pays me __way__ too much for the work that I do, and I have no college loans or anything since I got a scholarship. My boss just gave me a raise because she said I looked cute. Like, what the fuck, right?” She shook her head.” Anyway, the point is…I’d much rather be spending my money giving you the life you deserve than, I dunno…blowing it on tequila shots at the bar with Kjelle every night.” She realizes too late the gravity of her words. __The life you deserve__.

“Severa…” Lucina set her menu down and stared, Severa’s blush visibly creeping across her cheeks. Even in the dim restaurant, it was obvious.

“I mean, that is…” Severa shook her head. “I love you, Lucina. I…” She stumbled, and brought her wrist up to her eye. “S-sorry, I’m getting all weepy…dammit…”

Lucina reached across the table and took Severa’s free hand, twining their fingers together. She squeezed tightly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…to seem ungrateful.”

“No, it’s…” Severa pulled away, wiping her eyes. “S-sorry. I just got so caught up in what __I__  wanted that…that I didn’t think if __you__  wanted all this shit.” She felt a wave of self-directed anger wash over her and tamped it down. “I just…I love you a lot, and…”

“Mama?” Morgan pulled her thumb out of her mouth and tapped Lucina. “Are you cwying?”

“No,” Lucina lied, trying to surreptitiously brush a tear from her eyes.

“Why.”

“I’m just…really gay,” Lucina laughed through a sniffle, and Severa burst with laughter.

The tension broke - from the tiring day, from Severa’s confession, from the taut air between them as they both hovered on the edge of tears. They collapsed into fits of laughter, giggling and wiping their eyes as they tried and failed to compose themselves.

Just like that, it seemed to all fall away - everything, all of Lucina’s exhaustion, all of Severa’s nervous energy, everything fell away in a cascade of tears and laughter and puzzled looks from the four-year-old with tousled white hair, a lightness of heart that remained even as they returned to Lucina’s apartment loaded down with Severa’s lavish gifts, and they finally collapsed into bed together. Too tired for words, but not too tired for lips and soft wandering fingers, and they fell asleep with Lucina’s hands tangled in Severa’s hair, and Severa’s legs wrapped around Lucina’s, and Lucina’s nose buried in the crook of Severa’s neck. Lucina shifts, cuddling tighter against Severa in her brand new flannel pajamas.

 

///

 

Severa woke with a start.

She uncurled slowly, like a fist unclenching, feeling her muscles loosen as she unfurls from her fetal position, her trembling hands slowly separating from her head. She tried to still her breathing, using one unsteady hand to brush back the film of wetness that had accumulated at the corner of her eyes. She rolled onto her back, trying to force her body to relax. Lucina’s arm draped loosely across her and she tried to focus on that, focus on the softness and warmth. Lucina coughed.

The apartment was dark and cold. There was a chill in the air, even more so than usual, and the walls seemed to bend in as wind howled outside. A crack of distant thunder startled her, making her breath catch with a start.

She rolled again, groping for her phone. The bright LED screen informed her of the early AM hour, and the pitch-black window beyond the curtains confirmed. Wind pressed in against the window, whistling through the cracks in its seal. Severa sniffed and tugged her arms back under the blanket, phone in tow. She paged to her contacts and her thumb hovered over Kjelle’s name.

__No. It’s three in the morning. She’s asleep, and Lucina’s right next to you, idiot. Just wake her up and talk to her._ _

Severa sits up and rubs her eyes, blinking through a crust of dried tears.

The apartment felt so dark and cold. Lucina’s bed was like a bubble, a pocket of protective warmth in the cold black sea of night. She slipped out of bed, her bare feet hitting wood, and she padded down the hallway towards the bathroom.

She runs the sink, letting the water slowly warm up. Lucina’s plumbing had always been terrible - the pipes take minutes to heat up, meaning Lucina’s showers were sometimes cold, since the alternative was being late. Severa pressed a cautious hand to the sink and, satisfied, sticks a washcloth underneath the stream. She pressed it to her puffy eyes, letting the warmth and dampness settle into her skin. She focused on her breathing, trying to ground herself with the slow rise and fall of her chest. In the distance she can hear Lucina’s rasping coughs.

On nights like this she would slip into Kjelle’s room, curl up beside her, and…on bad nights she would cry. This wasn’t a bad night, fortunately, but the creaking of the floorboards and the wind groaning against the apartment made her feel nervous. She wiped her eyes and set the cloth down before grasping the side of the sink tightly and staring at herself in the mirror.

She looked worn, tired, her insomnia worsened by the storm outside. She blinks, and the woman in the mirror seems to be slow to respond. Severa breathes and when she does, the woman in the mirror’s shoulders rise and fall.

“You’re okay,” she whispered to herself. “You’re okay.” She nodded, somewhat unconvinced. Behind her in the mirror she can see the dark of the hallway and the tarnished tile of the bathroom lit in cold fluorescence. She pours herself a glass of water and sits on the closed toilet.

She wasn’t sure when she heard the first sniffle, but she reacted without thinking, setting her glass down and plunging into the dark hallway without fear. Another sniffle, and a small whimper. Severa stopped half a pace from Morgan’s room, listening to the soft sobs of the child within.

Morgan’s room glowed in the soft yellow of her night-light, the little plastic stars stuck to the ceiling illuminated green. Morgan was curled up tightly, her face screwed up and pink, tears soaking into her pillow.

“Hey,” Severa said, dropping to her knees at Morgan’s side. “Hey, shhh. It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m here.”

Morgan sniffled and looked at her, her eyes red-rimmed and puffy. Seeing Severa makes her cry harder.

“Shh, oh, no, it’s okay. Shh…” Severa strokes her gently. “What’s wrong?”

“S-scared,” she muttered.

“Aww, shh. It’s okay. Because of the storm?”

Morgan nodded. “Haveta potty.”

“Shh, it’s okay. I’m here. Here, we can go.” Severa peeled back Morgan’s blankets and helped her up to a sitting position. “Do you need me to carry you?”

Morgan nodded and stuck a thumb in her mouth. Severa complied, lifting her up and holding her tightly as they made the short trek to the bathroom.

“Do you need any help? Or can you do it?”

“I can do it,” Morgan said, proud despite her tears. She toddled into the bathroom and Severa slumped against the hallway wall, relieved. The wind howled and the roof creaked, and Severa held tight to Morgan’s hand as the two walked back to her bedroom.

Severa took care to tuck her back in, wrapping her blankets tight around her. “Is that better?”

Morgan nodded.

“Okay.” Severa kissed her on the forehead and stood up.

“Sevsev?”

“Hm?”

“Can you stay.”

Severa paused in the doorway. “You want me to stay with you?”

Morgan wrapped her arms tightly around her stuffed dragon toy and nodded, and Severa cracked a smile.

“Okay. I think I can do that.”

 

Lucina woke the next morning, surprised when she checked on her daughter to see Severa curled up around her, squeezed into the toddler bed, with Morgan’s nose buried against Severa’s neck. The two were sleeping softly, buried in Morgan’s blankets and stuffed animals. Lucina smiled.

 

///

 

The first sign that Lucina was sick came after work one day. She said she was feeling shortness of breath - even her walk up the stairs to her apartment seemed to wipe her out, and the cold air of the apartment made her cough. And cough she did - it was a horrible, hacking cough and Severa immediately ran to the corner store to get cough syrup.

“I’m okay, really,” Lucina smiled weakly. She coughed, lurching, and Severa caught her.

“You are __not__  okay,” Severa scowled. “Look at you! You’re pale as a ghost.”

“It’s not that bad,” Lucina coughed again, and Severa could hear her coughing up something, that awful rattling in her throat. The cold apartment, the shitty plumbing, the poor diet - this happening was inevitable, Severa knew.

“I’m okay,” Lucina continued to say, even as she was led to the couch by Severa, too weak to protest.

“You’re sick.”

“It’s just a bug.” Lucina sniffled and wiped her nose with a tissue. “It’ll pass.”

Severa pushed her down onto the couch and draped a blanket over her. “I was going to make us dinner, but change of plans. We’re having soup.”

Lucina buried her nose in the crook of her elbow and coughed again. “It’s fine, just make whatever you were going to make…”

Severa fumed, setting a pot of water over the stove. __Stupid idiot girlfriend__. Lucina always did this - she pushed herself far too hard for far too long, and now she was paying the price. And it got worse! Morgan was only four, and still susceptible to all manner of nasty colds! Lucina never took care of herself, and now it was coming back to bite her in the ass. Severa scowled.

Morgan was in her room, napping, which gave Severa ample time to prepare a simple dinner. Homemade chicken noodle, one of Morgan’s favorites, with a side of thick-sliced bread and butter. Simple, and the warmth of the cooking broth seemed to waft through the whole apartment, bringing an air of warmth to the chilly winter’s evening.

Severa stirred the soup and set down her ladle before heading into the living room to check on Lucina. She was dozing, her half-lidded eyes only opening when spasms of coughs wracked her body. Severa frowned and knelt at her side. “You dolt,” she muttered, pressing a hand against Lucina’s forehead. “How long has it been this bad?”

Lucina shrugged weakly.

“How were you even walking at work today? You feel like you’re burning up!”

“I…got sent home early because I kept coughing on the customers,” Lucina cracked a smile and Severa laughed.

“You idiot,” she pressed her lips into Lucina’s forehead. “Get some rest, okay?”

All throughout Severa’s dinner prep, she could hear Lucina’s rasping cough, and it made her nervous. She pulled up websites on her phone, poring through symptom lists, remedies, anything that made her feel less helpless in the face of Lucina’s physical frailty.

By the time she called Morgan to dinner, she had convinced herself that not only was Lucina dying, but they were all probably going to die next.

“It’s just a bug,” Lucina disagreed, passing a bowl to Morgan. “I’m sure I’ll feel better in the morning.” It would have been a more convincing sentence if she hadn’t punctuated each word with a cough.

“You’d better not get Morgan sick,” Severa taunted, waggling her butter knife.

Lucina’s shaking chills were bad enough that she could barely hold her spoon.

“You’re hopeless,” Severa muttered, taking the spoon her damn self. “Here, open up.”

“I’m an adult, Severa! I can do it my-” her protests were cut off by more hoarse hacking. She grabbed a napkin and pressed it to her lips, her chest shuddering.

Severa patted her back gently. “It’s okay. Come on, get it out.”

Lucina pulled the napkin away and stared at Severa, her eyes glazed and her lips dusted with blood. “I think I’m sick,” she admitted, setting the bloodied napkin on the table.

“Mama?” Morgan looked from Lucina to Severa and then back again. “What’s wrong?”

Severa quickly reassured her. “Oh, it’s nothing. Your mama’s just not feeling well right now. She just needs to get some rest, okay?” Then she turned to look at Lucina. “In fact, I think it might be best if she just went to bed now.”

 

-

 

After Morgan and Severa ate, Severa brought Lucina her soup in bed. She sat on the edge of the mattress and spoonfed her, much to Lucina’s weak protests.

“It’s okay,” Severa assured her. “Really, it’s okay. Better than you spilling it everywhere.”

Lucina looked a mess, her face pale and her eyes vacant, her lips and nose tinged pink. Even her cute new haircut looked disheveled and messy. “Thank you s-so much, Severa,” she whispered, chest trembling.

Severa set the empty bowl at the bedside table and pressed her hand to Lucina’s forehead again. “You feel all sweaty. I’m going to get you a washcloth and a thermometer, okay?”

 

-

 

“No. No, no, no. Absolutely not.”

“No, it’s okay. I can make it.”

Severa scowled, arms crossed over her chest as she glared at Lucina feebly getting dressed. She had spent the night on the couch and certainly felt like it. Her back ached, her neck was sore, and she had zero patience for Lucina’s stubborn foolishness.

“You can barely __walk__! Just call in and tell them you’re sick!”

“Severa,” Lucina managed to pull her pants up to her waist. “It’s…” she fell back on the bed and let herself take a moment to rest. Severa stared at her, watching the shuddering on her chest through her unbuttoned flannel shirt, watching her try in vain to hold back a bout of coughs. She slumped forward, resting her arms on her knees. “I have to.”

“You’re sick.”

“I need the money!” Lucina barked, the hoarseness in her voice making the phrase more severe than she probably meant it. Severa faltered. “I…I need the money,” Lucina muttered, sinking her face in her hands. She coughed before starting again. “I already missed a day this month when I couldn’t take Morgan to daycare.”

“I’ll call them and explain. You can’t go into work like this!”

“I have a shift tonight, too,” Lucina rasped. “I c-can’t miss two.”

“You can, and you __will__. Because the alternative is giving all your customers pneumonia!” Severa gently pushed Lucina back into bed. “I’ll call them. Just rest. You’re __sick,__  Lucina,” Severa pleaded. “You need to rest.”

“I’m…”

“You have a fever of one-oh-three,” Severa frowned. “I’m going to get you some medicine to bring it down, okay?”

Lucina nodded weakly.

“You’re an idiot,” Severa kissed her forehead. “And I’m not going to let you hurt yourself, okay?”

Lucina coughed.

 

-

 

While Lucina was resting, Severa took time to tidy the house, wash the dishes, vacuum the living room, and sit and play with Morgan in the living room. They sat together on the couch and Severa read to her, though she was more interested in bouncing up and down and prodding Severa’s long hair.

It was a cool day, sunny and clear, and the sound of melting snow cascading down the gutters served as a strange accent to the wind outside the window. Severa turned a page, the scratching of paper on paper seeming alarmingly loud in the silence of the living room. Morgan had fallen asleep somewhere in the last chapter, and now she was slumped over the arm of the couch, her stubby hands wrapped around a plastic sippy cup. In the bedroom, Severa could hear Lucina’s occasional cough.

She stood up, feeling strangely anxious. She shifted her eyes to the window, to the front door, then to the rest of the living room. Toys were scattered around the carpet, a perfect mess made of the very same space she had so diligently cleaned not hours ago, and the the coffee table was spread with Severa’s empty coffee mug. She frowned.

There was a knock at the door.

She checked the clock, and then looked to Morgan’s sleeping frame. __Who could be knocking on Lucina’s door at noon on a Sunday__?”

Another knock sounded.

Severa frowned and padded to the front door, carefully stepping her wool socks around the damp snowmelt leaking through the crack under the front door. She looked out the peephole.

It was a tall figure, framed as a dark silhouette by the noontime sun, standing in a puddle of slush on the front porch. Severa furrowed her brow and unbolted the latch.

“Can I help you?” She opened the door.

A stiff breeze and the scent of fresh snow filtered through the door, and Severa found herself face-to-face with a man. He was handsome enough, a bit older, the hint of stubble on his angular chin. He was dressed slickly, his hands stuck into the pockets of his denim jacket and snow dripping from his work boots. He was good-looking, in a sort of rugged way, though his feathery stark-white hair was disheveled, windswept and sticking out at odd angles. He frowned at Severa, unrecognition in his piercing eyes.

Severa’s fist connects with his jaw.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> How many Fates cameos am I allowed before I'm required to tag this "Fates"? Anyway, I realized that, despite it being canonically her Thing, I've never actually written any scenes of Severa going shopping. See ya next time!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoo buddy this one gets pretty heavy. Some tags have been updated, so check 'em out! Thanks for your patience re: updates, this was almost done but then Nanowrimo happened so uh. Here ya go.

“I’m sorry,” Lucina says softly, handing Robin an ice pack before tugging her thermal sweater tightly around her shoulders. “Severa can be a little…er…high-spirited.” She coughed into the crook of her elbow.

Robin sat on the couch, pressing the ice pack against his bruised jaw, darting suspicious glares at Severa, who stood at Lucina’s side, arms crossed under her unapologetically angry glower. “Well, it certainly wasn’t the welcome I was expecting.”

“It wasn’t a welcome, because you __aren’t__ ,” Severa snapped without thinking.

Lucina touched her shoulder gently. “Severa, why don’t you take Morgan and play in her room? I can deal with this.” She sniffled and wiped her nose on her cuff.

“I’m not letting you out of my sight with this __creep__  here,” Severa growled, making it perfectly clear which creep she was talking about.

“Please, just…” Lucina pleaded. “Just take care of Morgan, okay? I can handle myself.” She tilted her head in and kissed Severa on the cheek. “I promise we won’t be long.”

Severa, fuming, stalked past the couch, thumping it with her foot on the way by. She stopped at the entrance to the hallway. “If you touch her, I’ll kill you. Do you understand?”

Lucina shooed her out, taking a seat next to Robin on the couch.

“Charming girl.”

“What do you want, Robin?”

“Your haircut looks good.”

“Thanks, Severa picked it for me.” Lucina tugged a tissue from a tissue box and blew her nose. “Do you want coffee? I think there’s some left over.”

“No thanks.”

The air between them was still and tense, some unspoken pressure hanging between the two of them. Lucina picked at a thread on the couch and Robin shifted positions to more comfortably press the ice pack against his bruising cheek.

“Did my father send you?”

Robin shrugged, shaking his head. “I don’t see much of him these days. Got transferred to a different department. God knows he’s probably…what time is it? Noon on a Sunday? Probably still at City Hall.”

Lucina let herself laugh softly at his joke. Her father had been known for his work ethic, staying up late into the night to finish projects or get paperwork in. He had a tendency to sleep at his desk.

And for a moment, Lucina let her guard down. She laughed at his dumb joke, his stupid smile edging through the ice pack, his arm draped casually over the back of the couch, and Lucina remembers laughing before. She remembers being held in those arms, kissing those lips. Her gaze darkened and she felt nausea wash over her - the sickness, she’s sure. She recoiled, setting herself opposite of him on the couch, trying to crystallize her lurching gut to a point of anger rather than sadness.

 “What do you want? _ _”__ Lucina coughed, trying her damnedest to maintain control despite her shuddering chest. She couldn’t breathe, and Robin’s jaw was smashed. Seems like equal footing.

“Am I not allowed to want to see my daughter?”

“She’s not your daughter. You made that perfectly clear.”

“Last I checked-”

“Last __I__  checked, you wanted nothing to do with her.”

Robin sighed and flipped the ice pack to press the cooler side against his cheek. He closed his eyes and drummed his fingers on the coffee table. “School’s starting this fall, you know.”

“I know.” Another cough, and Lucina wiped her nose on her sweater.

“She should be in preschool by now.”

“I…” Lucina coughed and shook her head, pausing before speaking. “I know. We just…we’re not in a place where that’s…”

“You can’t afford it?”

“What do you care? What, you think you can just show up after four years, and…and what? Are you here to shower me with your mercy, offering to whisk my daughter away to preschool?”

“I’m-”

Robin’s words were interrupted by Lucina’s coughing fit. She doubled over, clutching her stomach and pressing her free hand to her mouth. She wiped the bloody phlegm with a tissue and shuddered.

“I just don’t think this is the proper environment to raise a child,” Robin said, with what Lucina could only assume is smug vindication that his point was proven in less than a second. “Look at you. You can barely even take care of yourself.”

“And what do you care?!” Lucina snapped again, her rage overpowering her nausea. “You didn’t give a shit about either of us four years ago, and you expect me to believe you want to help now?” She curled her hands into fists and pressed them into the couch. “Why, then. Why now? Why are you even here?!”

“Is it so wrong that I changed my mind?”

“About Morgan? You let me have her for four years, and now that you can take her and send her off to school, you suddenly want her? Do I have that right?”

“Lucina, please-”

“No,” Lucina snapped, lurching into another bout of hacking. She grasped the coffee table to steady herself, trying to keep from collapsing. “N-no. Get out of my house.”

Robin frowned. “I just want what’s best for our daughter.”

“She is __not__ your daughter.”

Robin shook his head sadly and set the ice pack on the coffee table. His cheek was rapidly shifting to a dark shade of purple. “Lucina...you’ve always been so stubborn.”

Lucina wiped her nose, daring him to continue.

“How long has it been, Luce? How much longer are you going to let her suffer because of your pride?”

“Suffer?” Lucina’s brow furrowed. “ _ _Suffer?__ What did you just say to me?”

Robin gestured at the squalid apartment. Even the sprinkling of gifts from Severa didn’t fix the dented television, or the hastily-patched window, or the leaky humidifier, or the peeling wallpaper.

“Get the __fuck__ out of my home.” Lucina pushed herself off the couch onto two unsteady feet. She coughed and pointed at the door. “Get out. And never come back.”

Robin’s eyes darkened. “Lucina, the last time I saw you, you were a piss-drunk mess, __begging__  me to take you back. And I come here to offer you a chance at helping our daughter-”

“She. Is. Not. Your. Daughter.” Lucina stalked towards him, pressing her finger into his chest. “She never has been. I said get the fuck out.”

“Look at what you’re doing to her, Luce!”

“Don’t you __fucking__  call me that!” Lucina snarled, her sickness entirely supplanted by anger.

 

-

 

Severa pressed a blanket against the crack in the doorframe, trying to muffle the shouting voices. She turned to Morgan, sitting on the floor with a little pile of toys. “Why don’t we turn on some music, huh?” She set her phone down, letting the tinny speakers drown out shouts and profanity. Severa smiled sadly and ruffled Morgan’s hair. “Hey, with any luck you’ll be like me, and you’ll just repress all of this.”

Morgan took her thumb out of her mouth. “Who is that man?”

“A friend of your mom’s. A…” Severa pursed her lips. “An old friend, I guess.”

“Are they fighting?”

“I guess.” Severa turned up her phone’s music louder, wincing at the words drifting through her makeshift barrier. She shifted and laid down next to Morgan on her stomach. “What do you want to play?”

“Um…I was playing twucks.”

“That’s fun!” Severa forced a smile. “Do you know what this one is?” She held up a plastic truck.

“D…dump twuck.”

“Mmhm,” Severa nodded, setting it into the carpet. She tilted back the dump truck’s back. “What’s this truck carrying?”

“Arms.”

“What?” Severa smiled at her, then laughed with surprise as Morgan dropped a handful of doll arms into the truck’s bed. “Uh-”

A terse __fuck you!__  came through the door and Severa winced again, trying to tamp down the discomfort welling in her stomach. She stared at the plastic truck, trying to focus on the bright colors, and Morgan’s wallpaper, and her little goofy smile. Anything but the horrible feeling of familiarity.

She pressed her face into her hands.

“Are you okay?” Morgan grabbed her hair lightly.

“Y-yeah,” Severa muttered, pushing herself to a sitting position.

“Sick. Like mama.”

“Maybe,” Severa laughed, but the sound was hollow, token. She rested her head against the frame of Morgan’s bed and reached for her phone, trying to push its volume past its limits. A tinny voice crooned through the speakers.

Another loud curse. Then another shout, a loudly cried __Get the fuck out!__  followed by a door slamming so hard it seemed to rattle the paper-thin walls of the apartment. Then silence, punctuated only by the muted music of her phone and Morgan’s off-key humming. Everything felt still. Alarmingly so.

Severa got to her feet and shuffled to the door, opening it. Lucina stood on the other side, shoulders sagging, breath labored. She looked at Severa and blinked slowly. Tears tracked down her cheeks, tracing lines of salty wetness from her puffy red eyes, and her hands were clenched tightly into fists. She uncurled her hands cautiously, the tension in her muscles slow to relax. She took an unsteady step forward and fell into Severa’s arms, collapsing weakly, sobbing into her shoulder.

 

///

 

“What the __fuck__.”

“You said it,” Severa said, sinking another beer. She slid her glass across the counter and nodded at the bartender.

“So this fucking asshole just shows out of nowhere? What does he want?”

Severa shrugged, slumping on the bar and closing her eyes. “I don’t know. Lucina said it seemed like he wanted Morgan.”

“Why? I thought this ass-clown abandoned them.” Kjelle scowled, her hand curling into a fist around her drink. She paused thoughtfully. “He isn’t pissed because you slugged him, right?”

“I didn’t think to ask.” Severa sat up as another drink arrived at her side.

“You wanna slow down there, kiddo?” Kjelle batted her shoulder lightly.

Severa flashed her a middle finger with one hand and finished her drink in a single gulp with the other. Kjelle laughed, then her face soured.

“How’s Lucina taking it?”

Severa returned to her dejected slump. “She’s pretty upset. And it’s just come at the worst time, too, with her just getting over her sickness.”

“Has he been back?”

“Hm?” Severa sat up, turning to her other side. Noire had spoken up for the first time since Severa finished her story.

“Has he come back…to the apartment, I mean.”

Severa shook her head. “No, not yet. I’m sure he will at some point, though.” The three of them sat in relative silence at the bar, with little but hushed conversations and the jukebox filtering music through the hazy evening air of smoke and liquor. Severa kicked the bar, drawing an irritated look from the bartender. A hush fell over them, each lost in their own private thoughts on the matter. Noire stirred her drink.

“We could kill him,” she suggested at last.

Kjelle almost did a spit-take. Severa laughed hoarsely. “God, Noire, I thought you were trying to work on not threatening people as much.” She sat up. “Speaking of, how’d that whole thing hash out? I never heard.”

Noire gave a dejected sigh. “They still won’t let me back at Baskin-Robbins.”

Severa and Kjelle giggled, the tension finally seeming to break. Severa let out a big sigh and Kjelle patted her on the back.

“Look, I’m sure it’s not…not as bad as all that. Maybe he’ll just…go away.” She shrugged sheepishly.

“Yeah, well…I just don’t know what this dude wants. Like, it can’t be __just__  about Morgan, right?” She paused, giving Kjelle a very concerning look. “You don’t think…”

“I don’t like that face you’re making,” Kjelle frowned. “I don’t like where this is going.”

“You don’t think he wants to like…get back together with her, do you?” Severa furrowed her brow.

Kjelle shook her head and rolled her eyes. “No, Sev, I don’t think he wants to get back with her. Why does your mind always leap to the worst-case scenario?”

“I don’t know!” Severa threw her hands up. “I didn’t even know the guy was still around, and now he shows up out of the blue! Fuck,” she collapsed back in her seat.

“Isn’t your mom a lawyer?” Noire piped up again. “If he wants custody, it’d be a legal process, right?”

“Hm?”

“I know when I got put in the foster system I had to meet with all sorts of people.”

“I don’t know,” Severa slumped on the bar. “I’ve…I’ve been trying to avoid talking to my mom about this stuff, actually.”

Kjelle turned to Noire. “She hasn’t actually told her mom - “ she nudged Severa. “ _ _Any__  of this. That she’s dating Lucina, or that Lucina has a kid. God, I don’t want to be there for that talk.”

“Ugh, I know!” Severa cried out. “Just…just let me think, okay?”

The three of them sat in silence. Severa didn’t want to tell her mom, because that would be opening up so very man cans of worms - about her dating life, about Lucina, about Morgan…but on the other hand, if they were going to try and stop Robin from swooping in and pulling this shit, a legal defense would probably be a good one. Severa ordered two shots.

“Drowning your sorrows?” Kjelle nudged her.

“Calling my mom.”

 

///

 

Severa took her hands out of her pockets. “Okay, look, my mom can be a little…” She closed her eyes and rubbed her scalp. “Intense?”

Lucina exhales slowly, her breath fogging in front of her face. “Intense.” She coughs.

“Yeah, she’s a crazy perfectionist, so she can be a little…you know. Thorough.”

“Is this going to be like an interview or something?”

“I don’t know. I just…” Severa sighed again. “I told her about Morgan, but - “

“Morgan!” Morgan cried from her place at Lucina’s side.

“Yeah, you,” Severa nudged her playfully. “But I didn’t tell her about…your…problem,” Severa finishes weakly. “I mean, you know this guy better than I do, so you should know what he’s trying to pull right?”

Lucina wiped her pink nose and nodded. They stood in the snow outside a brunch restaurant, some mid-tier downtown cafe with a bright modern design that clashed terrible with its hardwood table aesthetics.  Severa thought that Lucina looked, for lack of a better word, kinda like shit. She had dark circles under her eyes and a sort of distant, vacant look that betrayed her lack of sleep and food. Severa had stopped by to find her curled up on the couch with Morgan in her arms - evidently they had spent the night there.

“Your dad coming?”

Severa shook her head. “Nah, I told her that I wanted her to meet you first.”

Lucina leaned in. “He isn’t like…against…”

“Oh, god, no!” Severa shook her head. “I just don’t like talking to him.” She laughed. “Anyway, just…don’t be intimidated by anything weird my mom does, okay?”

“Uh…huh,” Lucina nodded.

“Gamma!” Morgan cried.

“Yes, we’re gonna meet gamma Sev,” Severa knelt and brushed back Morgan’s fluffy white hair. Snowflakes fluttered down around her bangs and the shoulders of her little pink jacket. “Are you going to be good?”

Morgan nodded proudly.

“Good,” Severa kissed her on the top of the head before standing. “Oh, please don’t offer to pay. I spent two paychecks on that last shopping trip and have been subsisting on frozen dinners, so don’t make me pay for brunch.”

Lucina laughed and slipped her hand into Severa’s. “Okay, but that just means I’m going to get something cheap.”

“No, I’m ordering for you,” Severa pushed the door to the cafe open and tugged her companions inside. “You’re gonna get…I dunno, steak and eggs, or something. Something to make up for you not eating dinner last night.”

“I ate dinner!” Lucina protested before coughing.

Before Severa can snap back, an arm snagged  hers and cut her off.

“Oh, Severa, I’m so glad to see you!” Cordelia pulled her into a tight, rib-crushing hug and Lucina’s hand slipped from Severa’s grasp.

Cordelia was in her standard business attire, a slick black blazer and pants over a button-up shirt and red-rimmed glasses that match her hair. She was taller than Severa by at least a head, and stronger too, if her embrace was any indication. Severa wriggled in her grip but her protest was futile against the power of motherly love. Cordelia planted a kiss on the top of her head, and it was like swinging a bat at a hornet’s nest.

“Ew, mom, gross!” Severa protested, trying in vain to extricate herself from being smothered in hugs and kisses. “Mom, come on!” Her voice dropped lower. “People are staring…”

Cordelia pulled back at last and cupped Severa’s cheeks in her hands, seemingly checking over her daughter. “Are you okay? Are you eating enough? Is Kjelle taking good care of you?”

“Ugh, yes!” Severa pushed her back. “I’m __fine__ , can we just sit down?”

Cordelia gave her one last kiss before letting her go free and turning to Lucina. “And you must be miss Lowell.”

Lucina blushed, trying to stifle a giggle. “Just Lucina is fine, ma’am.”

“Oh, so formal!” Cordelia said, impressed. She looked down at Morgan, with one hand wrapped tight in Lucina’s and the other sticking a thumb in her mouth. “And you must be little Morgan.”

Morgan stared, wide-eyed, from behind Lucina’s legs. She nodded.

“It’s okay, Morgan. You can say hello,” Lucina encouraged her gently.

Morgan took her thumb out of her mouth. “Hewwo.”

“She’s very cute,” Cordelia smiled. “No need to make her uncomfortable. When Severa was her age, she - “

“Mom!” Severa cut her off. “God, you’d better not just tell her embarrassing things about me this whole time!”

“It’s not embarrassing, it’s cute!” Cordelia beamed. “She would never say hello to __anyone__ , not even my parents. She had a terrible lisp and - “

“Moooom!” Severa groaned. “Can we __please__  just go sit down?”

“Oh, alright,” Cordelia assented, flashing a knowing smile to Lucina, who was trying to stifle a giggle.

Severa was the first to slide into their booth and she does so with obvious, practiced disdain, flopping herself against the far wall as if she’s performing some sort of herculean feat. Lucina ushered Morgan into the other side and sits across from Cordelia.

“Have you been doing well?” Cordelia passed out menus and gently touched Severa’s shoulder. “I know you were having…” she stopped herself. “Some problems.”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Severa said softly, not looking up.

“Have you been seeing Dr. Libra?”

“Yeah,” Severa picked through her menu.

“You know you can’t lie to me, Severa.”

“Mom, come on,” Severa pleaded. “Can we go ten minutes without you shitting on me?”

“Severa, you need to see your doctor.” Cordelia’s voice turned suddenly stern, not critical but pleading. “When’s the last time you saw him?”

“I don’t know,” Severa lied, flipping through the brunch menu. She focused her vision on a selection of egg dishes. “A couple months, I guess.”

“You’ve been taking your medicine, right?”

“Yeah.”

Lucina stared at the table, her cheeks burning. She hated seeing little family squabbles like this, but even more so, she now understood a little bit of what Severa meant. Cordelia wanted what’s best for Severa, but it’s so easy for such a desire to turn into something overbearing, something intolerable. It made her think of Morgan, and what would be best for her, and that made her heart sink. That clawing feeling came back to her, the twisting knife in her gut. She tried to push it down by helping Morgan unwrap a pack of crayons and trying very hard to not let her glance flicker over the cocktail menu.

“Ugh!” Severa cried out, pushing her way out of the booth.

“Where are you going?” Cordelia tried snagging her arm as she passed.

“To __piss__ , mom! Is that allowed? __God!__ ”

Cordelia pulled back and held up her hands in surrender, letting Severa shake her off and storm away from the booth. She turned to Lucina and offered a somewhat embarrassed apologetic smile. “I’m sorry,” she said, pausing for a moment before continuing. “It really doesn’t get any easier.” She laughed.

Lucina smiled politely and opened her menu.

Cordelia looked wistfully at the head of red hair navigating the maze of tables. “You never really stop being a mother.”

Lucina laughed quietly and helped Morgan look at the menu by reading the kid’s items to her.

Cordelia stirred her coffee and sipped it slowly, watching them. “How old is she?” she asked at last, after Lucina and Morgan had finished deciding.

“Four,” Lucina ruffled her hair. “Five this spring.”

Cordelia whistled. “Starting school soon.”

Lucina nodded. “This fall, yeah. I…” She laughed again, in spite of herself. She felt tense. Why did she feel so tense? “I really don’t even know where to start with all of that stuff.” Her hand dropped from Morgan’s head and clutched a fistful of her own skirt.

Cordelia must have sensed her nervousness because she immediately eased back. “So, how long have you been seeing Severa?”

“Uh…” Lucina fumbled the answer. “T…three months, I think? Sorry, I know Severa didn’t tell you when we…”

“Oh, think nothing of it,” Cordelia waved her hand. “You would think she’d be more open with these things, given how often she calls me. Back when she was in college, it was every other night…talking about classes, clubs, girls…”

Lucina laughed. Severa had called her from their bed once, hushing Lucina the whole time to stop any hints that would reveal she wasn’t at her apartment with Kjelle.

“Are you talking about me?” Severa scowled, sliding back into the booth. “I told you not to tell any embarrassing stories about me! What are you saying?”

“Oh, nothing,” Cordelia smiled and brought her coffee mug to her lips. “Just…mom talk.”

“Ew,” Severa scowled. “I don’t wanna hear it.”

They ate brunch slowly, the conversation dominated almost exclusively by Severa talking very loudly about things that only someone like Severa could be concerned about - her skirt’s hem fraying, Kjelle not cleaning the kitchen on their schedule, problems at work with her weirdo coworkers. Lucina ate in relative silence, mostly busying herself with helping cut up Morgan’s food and trying to distract herself from the gnawing feeling in her gut. She felt tired, and she felt nervous, like a total breakdown was just inches away. Something about Cordelia stressed her out, something she couldn’t place - maybe it was her smile, or the way she spoke, or how she looked, but she just seemed so…together.

It reminded Lucina of her father, and that made her stomach churn and her chest ache.

Cordelia tilted her head to the side. “Did you want to order a drink, Lucina?”

“Hm?” Lucina shook herself out of her haze.

“You keep looking at the cocktail menu. Go ahead, I’m paying!”

Lucina pursed her lips and looked at Severa. “I…no, I’m okay. Sorry, I’m just a little tired this morning.”

The look in Severa’s eyes had been strange - not anger, not confusion, but pity, of all things. Severa looked away from Lucina.

“Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?” Cordelia said at last, breaking the tension. “You sounded pretty upset on the phone, so I wasn’t sure…”

“Um, yeah.” Severa looked at Lucina again. “I…I dunno, Luci, do you want to explain it?”

Lucina nodded and set her fork down. “Yeah. Um…a few days ago, my…” She paused. “Morgan’s father came by the apartment.”

Cordelia’s smile melted into a frown as she listened.

“He was talking about wanting to take better care of her, and wanting to make sure she goes to a good school.”

“I’m assuming there’s a catch.”

Lucina rubbed the back of her head, ruffling her short hair. “I…I don’t know. The way he was talking, it seemed like he wanted Morgan. He kept saying things about getting her into a better home, and…and about me being an unfit mother.”

“I see,” Cordelia nodded. “So you’re worried that he’s going to take legal action?”

“I don’t know,” Lucina admitted. “He hasn’t been back, but…he seemed really set on this.”

Cordelia leaned back and folded her arms over her chest, a motion that Severa knew indicated that she was thinking. The three of them sat in silence while Morgan scribbled on a napkin with a crayon. Severa leaned across the table and took the napkin away to replace it with a coloring book sheet.

“If he means to prove that you’re an unfit mother, then he’ll need evidence.” Cordelia looked pointedly at Lucina. “I don’t mean to be blunt, but…are things going okay? Morgan getting regular checkups at the doctor? Does she have her immunizations?”

Lucina pursed her lips and spoke slowly. “Yeah, she’s got those.”

Cordelia looked at her curiously. “How’s your home? Is it in a safe area?”

Severa butted in before Lucina could speak up. “It’s not the nicest place, but it’s okay. We’re looking for a new one for her.”

Lucina shot her a glare.

Not the nicest place was an understatement - there was no heat, the walls were paper-thin, the pipes took minutes to heat up, and Lucina didn’t even want to think about the black mold under the sink. It’s wasn’t just “not nice”, it was terrible. She speaks up. “N-no, it’s…It’s all I can afford. It’s not…it’s…” She curls her hand into a fist.

“Have you and Morgan lived there for awhile?”

Lucina nodded. “A little more than two years.”

“And before that?”

Lucina closed her eyes. Severa reached across the table and took her shaking hands. “It’s okay, Luci.”

Cordelia looked between the two of them. “Lucina, I just want you to know what you could be dealing with. I’m not acting in any legal capacity, so…I promise I won’t judge you.”

Lucina shook her head. “I…” She curled her hand into a fist and squeezed Severa’s tightly. Morgan’s head nuzzled against her arm, soft snoozes emanating from her sleeping form. “Yeah, we had…I had a place…um…” She wiped her eyes again. “I had a small place before she was born, but after…I…I couldn’t keep the payments up, between bills, and food, and…daycare, and…” She withdrew her hand from Severa’s.

“Lucina…” Severa stared at her. She had never pried too deeply into Lucina’s past life, particularly not Morgan’s early years.

Lucina’s breathing seemed to slow and grow labored. She blinked, trying to hold back tears. “I…we were in and out of shelters for a bit, and…” She rested her face in her hands. “And then we…” She wiped the corners of her eyes. “We were staying in my car until I sold it for the deposit on the p-place we have now, and…” She let out a sob.

“I’m sorry,” she put her face in her hands and stood up abruptly, brushing past Severa and staggering down the aisle, out the door.

Cordelia looked wide-eyed from Severa to Morgan’s sleepily blinking form to the empty seat in the booth.

Severa stared at her mother, frozen. She hadn’t known any of that. She didn’t even try to speak - there was nothing she could say. Cordelia touches her softly and nods towards the door. “Go. I’ll watch Morgan.”

Severa nods numbly.

 

-

 

“Lucina, wait!” Severa pushed through the glass door of the cafe and out onto the street. The chilly air felt cold on her bare skin, but it didn’t even register with her that she had left her jacket in their booth. She almost slipped on a patch of ice and steadied herself. “Lucina, just…slow down!”

Lucina was half-collapsed against a wall, breathing heavily and frantically wiping tears from her eyes.

“Lucina,” Severa pleaded, reaching out to touch her. Lucina snapped backward and wrapped her arms around herself.

“Don’t touch me!” she muttered, though it came across more as a desperate plea than a vicious bite. She squeezed herself tightly.

“Lucina…” Severa backed off. Snow alighted on her bare arms.

“Just…j-just…” Lucina stammered through her tears. Her chest caught and she gasped, and it was like the breaking of a dam. She fell into Severa and cried into her shoulder.

“Shh,” Severa hushed her and stroked her hair gently. “It’s okay. I’m here,” she curled her arms tight around Lucina’s chest and pulled her into an embrace. “It’s okay,” she said again, though she wasn’t sure it really was. She couldn’t stop thinking about what Lucina had said. It must have been her imagination, but she could practically feel Lucina’s ribcage through her thin shirt. She felt nauseous. “Lucina…”

“Just…just go, okay?” Lucina pleaded into Severa’s shoulder. “Just let me…I can…I…” her words fail her again.

“It’s okay,” Severa said quietly. She pressed a kiss into Lucina’s brow.

“No it’s __not__!” Lucina cried out at last, pushing Severa back in a shower of snowflakes. Her face was pink and her eyes were puffy, and her flushed cheeks were stained with tears. “It’s not okay!” She gasped and coughed into her closed fist. “H-he,” she tried speaking before collapsing into another coughing fit.

Severa took her arm. “Come on, lets get you inside.”

Lucina shook her head and stifled her coughs. “He’s __right,__ Severa!” She burst into tears, the dam unable to hold back. “He’s right! I-I-I can’t take care of her, god, I can’t even keep __myself__  safe, let alone a kid…” She wiped tears from her eyes but it was a fruitless endeavor. Her breath fogged up in front of her, crystallizing in front of her flushed cheeks and red eyes. “Before y-you came along, we never had enough food, and, and…” She doubles over, hacking.

Severa took her arm and pulled her up, and Lucina was too weak to protest. Severa gently wiped her cheeks.

“I d-don’t deserve her, Severa…” Lucina gasped. “I…” She buried her face in Severa’s shoulder. “Maybe he should just take her…”

“No,” Severa frowned, knitting her fingers around Lucina’s back and squeezing. “Don’t you ever say that. That man is a creep and a jerk, and he’s the reason you’re here now. He doesn’t deserve to even __see__  her.”

Lucina pushed back but held Severa at arm’s length. “B-but he can take care of her! She’d actually be healthy, and warm, and-and-and-” She buckles again, coughing.

“Come on, Lucina,” Severa touched her hair softly. “Lets get you warmed up and we can talk about this, okay?”

Lucina shook her head but allowed Severa to lead her by the arm back into the atrium of the restaurant. Severa brushed snow and crystallized tears from her cheeks.

“Let’s go to the bathroom and get you cleaned up, okay?”

 

-

 

Lucina sat on the marble sink and leaned against the mirror as Severa dabbed her cheeks with a paper towel soaked in warm water. She ran the sink again, cold this time, and wrung out a paper towel.

“Here, hold this against your eyes. It’ll help the swelling go down.”

Lucina nodded and obeyed.

The bathroom door rattled.

“Occupied,” Severa snapped, kicking the door and shaking it. She touched Lucina’s hand and rubbed it, trying to will warmth into it. Lucina had been standing out in the snow for just a few minutes but already her thin skin was pallid and tinged pink. Her hands shook as Severa held them.

“S-Sev…” she said quietly, her voice hoarse.

“Don’t say anything,” Severa squeezed her hand.

“N-no, I…” Lucina took the paper towel off her eyes and wiped them. “I…If he comes back, I want to talk about him taking her.” She slipped her hand out of Severa’s and curled it into a fist. “She…she means the world to me, Lucina. She’s the only thing that matters. But…I can’t let her suffer because of my pride.” She leaned back against the mirror and breathed slowly. “I want her to have the best life she can, even…even if that means I don’t get to be her mother.”

Severa folded her arms over her chest. She sighed. Stupid, stubborn Lucina.

“Lucina.” She took Lucina’s hand again and leaned forward to kiss her - her forehead, her teary eyes, her flushed cheeks, her lips cracked and dried almost to the point of bleeding. She kissed her again. “You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met, Lucina.” She wished she hadn’t chosen those words - Lucina wasn’t a woman, not really. She was still a girl - a scared girl, beaten down by the world, but a girl who hasn’t given up, not with all the shit thrown at her. Severa wished her lips could form the words as well as her brain could, but she was never good at that sort of thing.

She kissed Lucina again. “My stubborn, silly Lucina.” It felt good to say it, and the sense of possession, of ownership gave her courage and confidence. She was not Robin’s. She was not a repository for his callous indifference, she was not only a product of his actions. She was Severa’s love, and that mattered more than anything else. She wiped a tear from Lucina’s cheek and kissed her again, keeping their lips pressed together - lips closed, eyes open. She didn’t pull back but shifted, resting her head on Lucina’s shoulder.

“I want you to quit your jobs,” Severa said quietly.

“What?” Lucina blinked at her.

“At least until Morgan starts school.” Severa pressed her forehead into Lucina’s shoulder. “I want you to be able to be with her.”

“I-I can’t,” Lucina blinked, trying to pull away. “Severa, I-”

“I want to start looking for a better place for you.”

“I…”

“Somewhere safer, somewhere…” Severa’s word failed her, but only because __somewhere better__  felt harsh. She closed her eyes and clutched Lucina tightly. “A place for us.” Somewhere better, then.

Lucina stared at her in stunned silence.

Severa pulled back. “You’re sick, Luci. And you’re not going to get better if you keep pushing yourself. I…I can pay for stuff until you’re feeling better, and then we can start looking for a place, okay?”

“I…I don’t know what to say.”

Severa’s face burned. She wished she hadn’t said anything. Of course that was her response! What even __could__  she say? It had only been a few months, and now Severa was - what? Looking to sweep her off her feet? To play the dashing hero, here to save her from her life of misery and toil?”

“I thought you said you spent all your money on that shopping trip.”

“I have savings,” Severa pulled back and folded her arms over her chest. She seemed smaller, almost, like she was shrinking into herself, huddled against her own shoulders. She wasn’t looking at Lucina any more, and the slight shift in posture made Lucina nervous.

“Severa, I can’t let you-”

“Why not?” Severa blinked and for a moment Lucina thought her eyes were watering. “Why won’t you let me help you?” Her voice was soft, pleading. She clutched a fistful of Lucina’s shirt in her shaking fist. “Why won’t you let anyone __help__  you?”

Lucina took her hand and brought it to her cracked lips. Her kiss was rough and dry, but there was no sensation Severa craved more. “I…I can’t let myself be a burden.”

“You aren’t a burden,” Severa’s voice was almost a whisper, choked and hoarse. “I…” She blinked. Damn Kjelle and all her posturing about pacing herself and waiting and planning - this was __love__ , god dammit! “I love you, Lucina. You and Morgan mean so much to me, and I want you to be happy and healthy. Both of you. I…” She sniffled. “I…” She closed her eyes. “I…I didn’t think anyone wanted me. My whole life I was always in someone else’s shadow, always playing second fiddle. I mean, my mom always had such high expectations, and my dad didn’t care about me enough to stay, and my step-dad hates me, and my step-sister thinks I’m a fuckup, and Kjelle just lives with me because she pities me, and-” Severa wiped her eyes and tried to still her hands on Lucina’s. “Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me. I…” She closed her eyes and let herself sink into Lucina’s embrace. “When I’m with you, I feel like you want me around. I feel like I belong, and I don’t need to worry about measuring up or doing the right thing. I can just…I can be myself.” She drew back and let her lips brush Lucina’s cheek.

The bathroom door rattled again.

“I said __occupied!”__ Severa lashed out her foot again and slammed into the door with full force. The tension broke and Lucina laughed and wiped tears from her eyes.

“God, didn’t they know we’re having a moment here?” Severa wrapped her arms around Lucina and pulled her into a tearful embrace. She squeezed tightly and Lucina returned the gesture, holding her close.

“There’s a place in midtown I was looking at,” Severa said quietly, helping Lucina off the sink. “It’s a little smaller than your current place, and a studio, but…” She offered Lucina a small smile and brushed her bangs from her eyes. “Maybe it’d be the right size for our little family.”

Lucina kissed her.

 

-

 

Severa lay in bed, blankets bunched around her legs, watching Lucina get ready for bed. She stared at her as she undressed, lost in thought. It had been a strange evening, to say the least - she had admitted to her mother that she and Lucina were probably going to move in together - and that Morgan’s rocky housing situation should all be in the past. Cordelia had been overjoyed; of course she had. She was so excited to go apartment shopping and to look for furniture and household goods and anything they would need, and as Severa had cooked dinner for Morgan and Lucina, she couldn’t stop thinking about what it would be like to live with Lucina for real.

Seeing her every day, waking up every morning to her at her side. Moments like this - Lucina coughing quietly, bent over, trying to worm a leg out of the cuffs of her skinny jeans. She still looked a little thin, but there was more color to her than there had been when they had first met. She fished a pair of flannel pajama pants out of the dresser and tugged them over her shaky legs.

Severa readjusted, pulling the blankets tight around her shoulder.

And Morgan, too - living with her would be an adventure. Severa had never given much thought to having kids of her own, but maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. She and Morgan had played together while Lucina slept on the couch before bed. Either parenting was easy or Severa had a preternatural gift for the art. Or, as Kjelle had so tastefully put it - “you’re good at taking care of shitty babies because you __are__  a shitty baby.” Severa had thumped her shoulder good for that one.

“What?” Lucina asked, buttoning her pajama shirt.

“Hm? Nothing,” Severa brushed her hair over her shoulder.

“You were giving me a funny look.”

“I was just thinking about…” __The future__. “Uh, my friend Noire invited me to a party in a few weeks. Would you want to go?”

Lucina made a face. “A party? Like, a college party?”

Severa shook her head. “Nah, just a get-together with some friends. Noire’s been talking about wanting to meet you, and…”

“Yeah, I’d love to meet some of your friends,” Lucina sat at the edge of the bed. She smiled playfully. “I hope they’re okay with a kid coming.”

“Kjelle could watch her,” Severa blurted without thinking. “I-I mean, it’s kinda…I don’t…it’s…” She tried again. “It’s not like, a __party__  party, but I can’t imagine Inigo’s place is great for kids.”

“I get it,” Lucina crawled across the bed and slunk into the covers. She curled up tight against Severa and pressed a kiss into her shoulder. “No drinking, right?”

“I know Noire doesn’t drink, her therapist said she shouldn’t.” Severa coughed. “Mine did too, but…”

“Okay. Just…” Lucina pursed her lips. “It’s been a rough few weeks, with this whole Robin thing, and…I’m just trying to be safe.”

“Yeah, of course.” Severa kissed her and laid down beside her, tugging her into an awkward spooning position. She kissed the back of her neck.

It was quiet, for a minute. No sound but the wind outside the walls, and the settling of the old apartment walls, and the creaking of pipes, and Lucina’s soft, slow breathing. Severa touched her softly.

“Lucina?” she asked quietly.

“Hm?” Lucina rolled over and blinked sleepily - she was already almost asleep.

It had been a big day for Severa. She was on a roll. “I…” she reached forward and tenderly brushed Lucina’s messy bedhead from her eyes. Amazing how she did it in a matter of minutes. “I didn’t know…I didn’t know any of that stuff about you and Morgan. About…b-before, I mean.”

Lucina nodded slowly, fully awake.

“Is that…I mean…” Severa shook her head. “I’m sorry, you probably don’t want to talk about it, I just-”

Lucina let her words trail off into silence and the creaking apartment, weighing her words before speaking. “It…it was hard.” She closed her eyes. “It never seemed like we had enough food, and…” She paused again. “Cheap liquor was easier than making food for myself.” She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling.

“After Morgan was born, I was diagnosed with…I mean, I struggled with depression a lot when I was younger, and…it wasn’t a new thing, but it was a chance for doctors to call it postpartum depression, give me medication, and send me packing.” She shifted again, withdrawing from Severa and wrapping her arms around herself. “Doctors are expensive and whisky is cheap.”

Severa stared at her in the dimness of the bedroom. She wished she could see Lucina’s eyes. She wished she could curl up around her, take all of that pain and hurt away.

“I-I don’t remember a lot,” Lucina admitted. “I was just so out of it constantly. It…it didn’t make me feel better, but it made me feel __less__. I kept trying to stop, but I…I couldn’t keep a job, I couldn’t keep a place to stay.” She blinked and Severa could see tears rolling down her cheeks and pooling on her pillow. “I remember…Morgan was two, and…and we were sleeping in my car, and…I’d lean the seats back and pile up all of the blankets and we’d lay there, staring up through the windshield at the stars. Morgan would ask - I mean, in the way babies can - and she’d point and make sounds, almost like she was trying to grab them. I got kiddie books on constellations to read to her.” She rolled over at last. “M-Morgan…” she let out a sharp, quiet gasp. “She…she was the only thing that kept me going.”

Severa reached out and clutched her hand tightly. She didn’t dare move closer, but Lucina’s confession seemed to be over. She sniffled and trembled with barely-contained sobs.

“Why…” Severa took a deep breath. “How did you stop?”

Lucina tugged the blankets tighter around herself, slipping her hand from Severa’s grip. She stared in silence.

Severa curled into herself, her mind blazing with self-directed outrage. How dare she even ask? What was she even __thinking__? It’s part of Lucina’s past, sure, but it’s the __past__. It doesn’t matter, and her morbid curiosity had led to her to treat Lucina like something to gawk at, some museum of regret and suffering. “Y-you don’t have to-” Severa stammered awkwardly.

“I was going to kill myself,” Lucina said quietly, her eyes vacant and distant.

Severa’s breath caught in her throat.

“I…It was pretty soon after we moved here,” Lucina blinked slowly. “I dropped Morgan off at daycare and came home. I didn’t call in to work, I just laid down on the couch and started drinking, hoping I’d work up the courage to…” She exhaled. “I don’t even remember how much I drank, but everything was just a blur. I took a handful of painkillers and laid down, and…” She pushed herself up to a sitting position and wiped her eyes.

“I don’t know what happened. I don’t know if I drank too much and couldn’t keep them down, or…” she shrugged weakly with trembling shoulders. “Maybe it was a miracle. I woke up on the floor, surrounded by bottles, coughing and spitting up on myself.” She put her face in her hands and Severa sat up too, still unwilling to touch her. “I felt horrible - bad enough that I wished I had died, just to stop my head from pounding and my stomach from hurting. I kept coughing blood, and I…” She curled her hands, grasping fistfuls of blankets. “I managed to limp to the shower and laid down, fully clothed under the cold running water, trying to wash the blood and vomit from my clothes.”

Severa stared at her.

“I cleaned up, and called into work saying I was sick and wouldn’t make it in today, and asked if I could pick up an extra shift the next day. My manager was upset but thanked me for letting her know.” Lucina wrapped her arms around her knees and hugged them close to her chest. “I took the last ten dollars I had in the dresser, got dressed, and went out and bought myself lunch.” She wiped her eyes. “It hurt to eat - my throat was sore and my stomach felt so raw and sensitive, but that stupid sandwich was the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my entire life.” She tilted her head to the side and rubbed the back of her scalp. “I picked up Morgan from daycare and we watched TV specials about the space program until we fell asleep on the couch.”

Severa fought back tears. Her stomach hurt, her chest ached, her eyes stung. She squeezed herself so tightly she thought her spine might break from the force. She wished she could hold Lucina so tightly, and Morgan, too. She sniffled and tried speaking with her shaky voice. “I’m s-sorry,” she said quietly.

“It’s okay.” Lucina wiped her eyes and gently touched Severa’s arm. “It’s…” She sighed deeply and pressed her lips into Severa’s shoulder. “It was a long time ago. I’m not in that place any more…I just…” She pulled back. “I want you to understand what I mean when I say Morgan saved me.”

Severa uncurled slowly. “So that was it, then? You just…stopped drinking?”

Lucina laughed and her voice was like water breaking on rocks. “God, I wish it was that easy. No, I still did, just…less. It became harder and harder to do it without…without thinking of watching my blood and stomach lining run down the shower drain. She…she was too young for it to mean anything, but I promised Morgan I wouldn’t touch another drink for as long as I lived.” She turned and her eyes were red-rimmed but clear. “I broke that promise, a few times, but…” She smiled. “I’m almost two years sober now. Got my chip and everything.”

Severa couldn’t stop herself from throwing her arms around Lucina and pulling her into a tight hug. She squeezed like she was afraid Lucina might drift away. She buried her face in the crook of Lucina’s neck and let out a choked sob. “Lucina…”

“It’s okay,” Lucina stroked her hair and held her. “I’m okay.” She held Severa close. “I’m okay, now. We have you to take care of us, right?”

Severa could hear the smile in her question and kissed her neck. “I promise,” she said. “I promise I’ll do everything I can to take care of you. Anything you need.”

Lucina cupped Severa’s chin and ran a thumb along her cheek. “How about you start with a kiss?”

Severa grasped the back of Lucina’s head with both hands, threading her fingers through her hair, and pulled her into a breathless kiss.

 

///

 

Severa tapped impatiently on the heavy wooden desk.

Municipal buildings made her nervous. She wasn’t sure why - she had never had much cause to be in them, but something about the idea of them set her on edge. Maybe all of the men and women in suits with briefcases reminded her of her mother.

“Can I help you?” a kindly old woman behind the desk finally looked up.

“Uh, yeah, I was wondering if you had some sort of employee directory?”

“Of course. Which office were you looking for?”

Severa pursed her lips. “I’m not actually sure. I’m looking to speak to Robin…” She winced. “Grimwald? I think?” She hadn’t confirmed the surname with Lucina for obvious reasons, but she had done some internet sleuthing.

“I’ll look and see.” The woman began pecking away at her keyboard.

Severa turned and leaned back against the reception desk and cracked her neck. City Hall was a massive stone building, all towers and spires and all those classical architecture words she had never paid attention to during her history classes.

Ah, she remembered why municipal buildings made her nervous. It was the pre-law degree sitting in the bottom of her closet, sandwiched between her old trading card binder and a photo album.

She watched passerby, well-dressed men and women hustling across marble floors, between ornate wooden staircases and crowded elevators. High above, the domed ceiling let in shafts of bright and cold light. It was mid-morning, still snowing out, and she hadn’t even taken her gloves and scarf off before staggering into the receptionist’s office looking for directions.

“Ah! Here we are. Robin Grimwald. Office 23B, fourth floor. Do you need a visitor’s pass?”

“Yes, please,” Severa smiled.

The plastic badge tapped against her chest as she sidled through security, shouldering past bureaucrats and legal aides and all sorts of people that had careers that had been in her future, once upon a time. As she waited for an elevator, she was glad she had picked another career because, if for no other reason, she was the only person in the entire hallway with an ounce of fashion.

For a building with such a utilitarian layout, she sure had trouble finding the right office - she had to ask for directions from two separate guards on the same floor, each pointing her in different directions. The maze of marble floors and unadorned walls stressed her out. She did manage to find office 23B - tucked into an alcove in a far corner office, behind not 23A but 22B. Because understandable layouts are for squares, she guessed.

She closed the door behind her and found herself in another receptionist’s room - a pretty woman with black hair sat at the desk, painting her nails. The room was eerily quiet. To the woman’s left, a hallway stretched back to the corner office and, presumably, Robin. Severa cleared her throat.

The woman looked up. “Can I help you?”

“Hi, I’d like to see Mr. Grimwald.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No, but it’ll just take a minute.”

The woman sighed and sat up. She leaned forward and pressed the call button on her phone. “Mr. Grimwald, there’s someone here to see you.”

There was a buzz of empty static before a response.

“Do they have an appointment?”

“No.”

More static. “Okay, I’m free.”

The woman looked up at Severa. “Sign in, please.” With her free hand, she slid a clipboard with a chart of empty slots for names, signatures, and times across the desk. She smelled like nail polish.

Severa leaned over the desk and scribbled a name - not her own, of course, but the fabricated identity she had grown to lean on for all of her less savory activities.

“Okay, Miss Luna,” the woman waves her back. “Go right ahead.”

 

Robin was halfway into standing up as Severa entered before realizing. “Oh,” he frowned. “It’s you.”

“How’s the face?” Severa shut the door behind her.

Robin sat back down at his desk, curiosity shifting into irritation. His office was rather spacious, a generous corner room with broad windows that looked out on the snowy boulevards below. His heavy wooden desk was tilted at a jaunty angle and piled high with folders and paperwork. The walls were lined with bookcases. “Ah. …Severa, was it?” he asked.

Severa folded her arms over her chest.

“You can sit, if you’d like.”

“I’ll stand.”

A gust of wind outside hummed against the window and sent flurries of snow into swirls. Robin spoke first. “I’m assuming this is about Morgan.” Severa hated admitting to herself that he was handsome, in a sort of rugged way, but every time she looked at his face all she could think about was Lucina’s story. He adjusts the cuffs of his button-up shirt.

“It’s about Lucina.”

“I already told her, I-”

Severa stepped forward. “I don’t care what you told her. I don’t give a shit what you have to say about anything. You stay away from her, okay?” She tried to channel as much of her mother’s presence into her slender frame as she could. Never mind he was like a decade her senior, and this was his office - she had the righteous power of indignation and disgust.

“How old are you, Severa?”

Severa frowned. “Twenty-three.”

“Do you have any experience raising children?”

Severa thumped his desk with her foot. “It doesn’t matter, asshole! It doesn’t matter if __you__  do, because the only experience you seem to have is abusing them.”

He frowned at her.

“She was a kid, you stupid fuck!” She gave up on trying to seem composed. It didn’t matter. “How could you do that to her?!”

He tried open his mouth to speak but she steamrolled over him.

“Do you even know what you did to her? You made her life hell!” Severa cried out. “She gave up everything for you, and you spit in her face! And now you want to take the one thing she has left?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

“I made a mistake,” Robin frowned, leaning forward. “I understand that, now. But I don’t want my daughter to suffer because of the decisions __I__  made.”

“Maybe you should have thought of that four years ago! __Your daughter__.” She sneered. “Give me a fuckin’ break.”

“I just want to make sure she’s cared for,” he said.

“And she is,” Severa snapped. “She’s going to live a long, happy life and you’re not going to be a part of it. Do you hear me? If you go near either of them again, I’ll break your fucking arm.”

“You expect me to believe my daughter is in good hands with you? Being raised by a drunk and a-”

Severa had to physically restrain herself from launching herself across his desk at him. “Don’t you call her that!” she roared, settling for slamming her fist on the desk. “Don't you dare call her that! You don't know _anything!_  You don’t get to sit there and act all high and mighty, as if you didn’t fuck up her life! Both of their lives.”

Robin calmly fixed the pens and paper Severa’s outburst had sent scattering across the desk. “Severa, I want you to try and calm down. We can talk about this, if you’d like, but screaming at me accomplishes nothing.”

“Fine,” Severa snarled, dropping into a chair. She kicked up her boots and rested them on his desk. “Talk, then.”

“I don’t think it’s fair for you to judge Lucina and I’s relationship without any real knowledge of it. Lucina and I did date for a time, but it was something that she wanted. It was her decision to have a child, not mine.”

Severa seethed. How __dare__  he sit there and blame her?

“By the time she told me she was pregnant, I had already been ready to call the relationship off. I told her keeping the child was-”

“I don’t care,” Severa said simply, cutting him off. “I don’t care what you told her. I don’t care what happened. All that matters to me is keeping Morgan and Lucina safe, and neither of them is safe with you in their lives. I don’t want you to see them. I don’t want you to talk to them. Lucina and I are moving in together, and if you find our new home with the intention of talking to either of them, I __will__  file a restraining order.”

“You’ll what?”

“My mom’s a lawyer and I have a law degree, asshat. I know how to file a restraining order.”

“Severa, I-”

“No.” Severa held up her hand. “I told you. I don’t care. I don’t care about you, or what you have to say. I’ll be taking care of Morgan and Lucina from now on, so if you’re going to pretend to be worried about them, you can drop it.” She kicked the desk to scoot her chair back and stand up. “I’m serious about this. If you show your face again - “

“I get it,” he said.

“Good. Glad we came to a mutual understanding.” Severa began tying her scarf around her neck. “Do you validate my parking pass, or does the front desk do it?”

Robin put his head down in his hands. “My secretary will do it.”

“Thanks.” Severa took a step outside the door before stopping and sticking her head back through the door. “Oh, by the way, is your car that uh…the purple one. The convertible BMW?”

Robin looked up at her suspiciously. “Why do you ask?”

“Might wanna watch out, looked like someone had slashed a few of your tires.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :3


	5. Snowstorm Holiday Special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Hope you're all enjoying the fic. Thought I'd take a little break this holiday season for a little (or...not little, its like 10k whoops) bonus chapter! It's some holiday DLC: Delightful Lesbian Content
> 
>  
> 
> Okay no but really the actual plot will resume next chapter, this is just a big ol' pile of holiday fluff because I felt like it.

21 Days Till Solstice

 

It was the first day of December, and a frosty chill had descended over the city. It wasn’t snowing __more__ , not yet, though the forecast called for it, and the sky was a murky, cloudy grey. The early morning sun was doing its best to rise over the skyline of frosty buildings, barely piercing through the clouds in a muted, pale light. The streets were piled high with the snow of the past week, now turning to slush and snowmelt in the gutters and drains, where steam hissed up in white clouds.

It was the first day of December, and it was cold, and it was grey, and Lucina stood in her bathrobe in the cracked doorway and blinked blearily at the woman with a hacksaw slung over her shoulder before her.

She blinked again and rubbed her eyes. “Good…morning, Severa.”

“Good morning, my dear,” Severa said brightly, her voice almost irritatingly chirpy. Lucina had been nursing a headache for the past two days, and now, on her morning off, when she had expected to be able to sleep on the couch while Morgan watched cartoons, she had to deal with…this. Whatever __this__  even was.

“Can…” Lucina blinked. “Can I ask why you’re standing on my porch with a saw?”

Severa took a step back and gestured out at the street. A car was parked and idling against the sidewalk, white smoke flickering from its exhaust pipe. The grey morning light showed little but snow-packed sidewalks and close-clustered, run-down apartments.

Lucina pressed a hand to her forehead and rubbed her temples. “Uh…snow.”

“It’s Winter Solstice!” Severa cried out, almost offended that Lucina hadn’t picked up on her nonsense clue. “God, and you don’t even have a tree yet! Or decorations, or-”

“Severa,’ Lucina slumped against the doorframe and held up a hand. “Please, please, please tell me you don’t have that saw for the reason I think you do.”

“We got Kjelle’s car and everything! Look!” Severa leaned out and waved down to the street. “Come on, Luci, wave.”

Kjelle flashed a peace sign out of the car’s open window.

“Severa…”

“Come on!” Severa tugged her sleeve and invited herself into Lucina’s apartment. “Is Morgan awake yet?”

“Severa, I really…” Lucina shut the door behind her and leaned against it.

Severa leaned her saw against the door and stomped snow from her boots. “Is Morgan awake yet?”

“No, I just got up because of you banging on the front door.” Lucina leaned forward and helped Severa extricate herself from her padded winter coat. Underneath, she was wearing a thick, warm sweater tights that stuck out from beneath a warm-looking wool sweater. Lucina squinted. “You’re dressed…warmly.”

“Well, yeah,” Severa shook snow from her hair. “It gets cold north of the city, and we’re gonna be outside a lot.” She took Lucina’s hand and half-dragged her towards the hallway. “Come on, go get Morgan up! I’ll make some hot chocolate.” She paused and looked at Lucina’s face. “Maybe some coffee, too.”

Lucina sighed and relented, sitting down at the kitchen table while watching Severa bounce around the kitchen. She pulled down a pot and sifted through the fridge for milk for the hot chocolate. Lucina set her head down on the table. “Do you have a car seat for Morgan?”

“Of course!” Severa looked up over the fridge door. “It’s my old one, but it still works.”

“Okay.”

Severa busied herself in the kitchen, setting on a pot of coffee while she began furiously mixing the makings of hot chocolate on the stove. Lucina walked slowly down the hall, shaking her head in something like disbelief - it was a Saturday morning, and Severa was __never__  up this early, even when she slept over. Lucina yawned and gently knocked on Morgan’s door.

“Good morning, sweetie.”

Morgan blinked sleepily and rolled over, making a noncommittal inquisitive noise. Lucina knelt down beside her bed and kissed her forehead.

“Mhn?” Morgan blinked.

“Mama Severa is here,” Lucina said, running a hand through Morgan’s hair. “Do you want to get up and get dressed?”

Morgan’s eyes widened and she nodded.

Lucina helped her dress, tugging a thick thermal sweater over her little frame and helping her pull on warm, long socks. Morgan, still sleepy, was absent her characteristic fussiness as Lucina brushed her hair, trying to comb out the tangles of feathery white that became wild tufts in the night. Lucina scooped her up and carried her back towards the kitchen. Morgan rested her sleepy head against Lucina’s shoulder.

“There she is,” Severa smiled, stirring her pot of hot chocolate.

“Do you mind watching her while I go shower?” Lucina shifted.

Morgan took a thumb out of her mouth and stared, wide-eyed at Severa. “Choco!”

“Yes, that’s right,” Severa grinned. “Hot chocolate for breakfast!”

“I hope you had food planned, too,” Lucina set Morgan down on the couch and stood. She stifled a cough. “Unless you mean to go on this big adventure of yours on an empty stomach.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Severa waved her back. “Go get a shower, I’ll cook up some eggs.”

Lucina did as commanded, stumbling blearily down the hallway while Severa finished up breakfast. Severa turned away from the stove conspiratorially, motioning for Morgan to join her.

“Hey, kiddo. You and your mom have fun last night?”

Morgan stuck her thumb back in her mouth and nodded.

“Good. You gotta take care of her, you know. She loves you a whole lot.”

“I know,” Morgan said, with the air of confidence that only a four-year-old can truly muster. “We watched TV.”

“Good! Did mama fall asleep on you?”

Morgan nodded and Severa sighed. It wasn’t a surprising answer - Lucina usually feel asleep not long after coming home from work. As long as she had managed to get the two of them some dinner, the biggest downside was just that Morgan could stay up as late as she wanted without supervision.

Severa fished a ladle out of the drawer and scooped some hot chocolate out to spoon into a mug. “You want to try this and make sure its good?”

Morgan nodded. “Choco!”

Severa knelt on the kitchen floor. “Alright, now it’s a big-girl cup, so you gotta be careful, okay?” She helped Morgan wrap her stubby little fingers around the mug and bring it up for a sip. “Good?”

“Yeah! More!” she said, before remembering her manners. “Pwease?”

“Okay, okay.” Severa stood up and began digging through the cupboard. She knew Morgan’s baby cup was somewhere, but in the mess of dishes Lucina had crammed into the cupboard, she was having no luck. She sighed. “I’ll have to ask your mom where your cup is, okay? Can you be patient?”

Morgan did not have any interest in being patient.

By the time Lucina had emerged from the bathroom, threw on a sweater and jeans, and walked out into the living room, Morgan was on the cusp of full-on child breakdown mode, with Severa frantically juggling coffee, chocolate, a frying pan of breakfast, and a distressed, toddling child.

“Severa, what did you-”

“I’m sorry!” Severa cried, abandoning the stove entirely to try and smooth back Morgan’s hair and shush her. “I gave her a sip of hot chocolate but couldn’t find her cup and she got upset, so I tried just giving her more from a mug but she drank it too fast and burned her tongue-”

“Okay, okay, it’s okay,” Lucina pushed Severa lightly aside and knelt to wrap her arms around Morgan. “It’s okay, sweetie. Shh, it’s okay. Does it hurt?”

Morgan sniffled and nodded.

 

-

 

Severa smacked the car’s tape-deck, growling. “Stupid piece of junk.” Warbled holiday music floated out of the crackling speakers on the wings of chirpy piano melodies.

“Hey, watch it!” Kjelle swiped her hand away. “Don’t bully the poor thing.”

“Maybe if it __worked__ ,” Severa slumped back in the passenger seat and scowled.

“Yeah, and it would probably work better if you hadn’t spilled all those energy drinks in it.”

“It was one time!”

“Twice.”

“The other time was syrup.”

“Were you eating pancakes?! Why do I even let you in my car?”

The windshield wipers swiped back and forth across the smudged glass, brushing away snow as soon as it could accumulate. The snow had begun in light flurried of white drifting down from the sky and coating the car in a thin layer of frosty white. It wasn’t a nice car - it was a hand-me-down from Kjelle’s mom, so calling it a beater would have been more accurate. It chugged on uphills, the tape player barely worked, and the left-side door took a good thwack to dislodge, but it was a car that had carried the two of them through years of young-adult stupidity. None of those adventures had previously required a car seat, though.

Severa turned around and looked at the back seat, at Lucina fussing over the buckles and latches of the old car seat they had strapped behind the driver’s side. “Coffee?” she offered, holding out her thermos for Lucina to take.

Lucina gratefully accepted and sipped it with one hand.

“She’ll be okay,” Severa said softly. “Hel-” she stopped herself. “Heck, if I didn’t get killed riding around in it, I’m sure Morgan will be just fine.”

“That’s not exactly reassuring,” Lucina leaned back into her own seat.

“Morgan, you’re safe, right? Comfy?”

“Yeah!” Morgan cried out, wiggling her arms and legs for emphasis.

“See? She’s good.” Severa snatched the coffee thermos back and stole a sip. “Besides, we’re not going to be in the car that long.”

“Yeah,” Lucina rested her head against the glass of the window and stared out at the passing scenery. “Where are we going, by the way?”

“There’s a place that lets you cut down your own tree north of the city,” Kjelle explained, downshifting. “They have this big open hillside covered in trees and everything.”

Severa leans back and adjusts her seat. “Kjelle and I have done it every year since…sophomore year?”

Kjelle laughed. “Yeah, they got pissed that we got sap in the dorm room, but it was worth it.” Severa shot her a glare. “Sorry, they got, uh…mad.”

“Anyways, now it’s a Winter Solstice tradition,” Severa grinned and swiveled around. “Hey Morgy, y’know why people put up trees for the solstice?”

Morgan bounced her feet against her car seat and stared out the window. She chewed on the cap of her baby cup and shook her head.

Kjelle frowned at Severa. “Do __you__  know why people put trees up for the solstice?”

“I dunno,” Severa shrugged. “Isn’t it some pagan thing?”

“I have no idea, Sev,” Kjelle laid a hand on the horn. “Come on, asshole, use your blinker!”

Severa winced at Lucina. “Sorry, she’ll watch her language around the kid, __right__?” she slugged Kjelle’s shoulder.

“M-maybe don’t do that while she’s driving,” Lucina said, wrapping one hand around the door’s crash handle and the other around the bottom of Morgan’s car seat.

“Sorry,” Severa said. She turned back around to face Lucina and Morgan. “But no, I have no idea why people put trees in their houses. But if you don’t,” she said playfully, reaching back towards Morgan. “Then Saint Tiki won’t have anywhere to put your presents!” She tickled Morgan’s legs to a round of raucous cackles and turned to face Lucina. “She…she does still believe…”

Lucina smiled sadly and leaned against the frosted window. “Saint Tiki hasn’t made a visit to our house, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Severa pouted. “Well,” she said, sitting back up front, “looks like we’re gonna have to change that, right, Kjelle?”

“Why are you roping __me__  into this?” Kjelle frowned, dangerously close to blasting her car horn again. “Ah, stupid jerk, I’m trying to exit!”

 

-

 

It had been years since Lucina had gotten a solstice tree. More than years - it felt like a lifetime away. She stood with one hand buried in her jacket pocket and the other wrapped around Morgan’s mitten-adorned hand and watched Severa and Kjelle negotiating with the owner of the lot, a young man with brown hair, a thick country accent, and a curious choice of holiday headgear. Rather than a festive hat, a pot. Lucina vaguely recalled that was a traditional thing - some historical nuance, no doubt. But for the time being, the only purpose it seemed to serve was to collect falling snow around the brim.

“Well, I reckon you folk’d wanna head off down the hill, then,” he explained, pointing. “The trees n’the south face are a lil’ bit big for the space you’re workin’ with.”

“Great, thanks,” Severa said, withdrawing her thermos from her purse. “Do we pay now or when we get the tree?”

“It’s by size, so I’ll get ‘er all measured up for ya when you fellas come back.”

Severa sipped her thermos slowly as they walked.

The cold, blustery morning had given way to a snowy afternoon - flurries drifted down in white swirls from the cloudy sky and the ground was soon coated in a layer of fresh white over the layers of old snow. The tree farm was centered around a brown barn built into a hillside - on all sides the hill was covered in snowy meadows dotted with growing trees of all sorts. Lucina had known the names of all of them, once upon a time - firs and spruces and pines and all that, but now it all disappeared into a vague haze of distant memory. She lags behind, trudging her exhausted legs through the snow, watching Severa pull Morgan along excitedly by the hand. Something flickered in her memory, something vague and distant that sent pangs through her chest. Her hand squeezed tight around her father’s. His gentle smile, his calm words as he pointed to the different trees and told them her names.

She closed her eyes.

“Hey, you okay?” Severa’s voice interrupted her.

Lucina blinked, rubbed her eyes, wiped her nose. Morgan was sitting up on Severa’s shoulders, tottering uncertainly, stabilized by little hands wrapped around her scalp.

“Morgan, get down from there before you get hurt!” Lucina took a step forward, reaching out. She took her daughter and pulled her down slowly, bringing her into an embrace.

“Aww, mama!” Morgan pouted.

“I don’t want you to fall and get hurt,” Lucina knelt in the snow and brushed Morgan’s jacket off.

“Sorry,” Severa said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her scalp. “She wanted to see over the trees, and-”

“It’s okay,” Lucina stood and scooped Morgan up to cradle her against her shoulder. “I’m sorry, I just worry.”

“Are you two coming?!” Kjelle’s voice echoed off the snowy hillside. She lifted an arm up and waved her hacksaw wildly. “I found a good one!”

Severa and Lucina make eye contact and burst into giggles.

 

Lucina quickly learned that by “Severa and Kjelle find and cut down a tree,” Severa had really meant that she spends an inordinate amount of time being meticulously picky with the sort of tree they choose, and then stands with her arms folded over her chest, drinking coffee while Kjelle does all the real work. Severa was picky, like she was with all things - no, this tree was too thin, this one was too wiry, the branches on this one weren’t full enough, are you kidding how would that ever fit in her apartment, and on and on into the snowy afternoon.

They finally settled on a tree long after Lucina had reached the point of diminishing returns. You’d seen one snow-speckled pine, you’d seen them all. There was nothing particularly special about this one, not that she could see, but Severa’s eyes seemed to glow at its alleged perfection. Morgan plopped down to a sitting position in the snow and busied herself with making small snowballs while Kjelle crawled under the tree and got to work sawing at the trunk.

Lucina exhaled slowly, watching her breath swirl in white clouds in front of her face. She giggled.

“What’s so funny?”

“Just…” Lucina took her hands out of her jacket pockets and gestured. “I never would have guessed that you were so into the holidays.”

Severa’s brow furrowed. “And why not?”

“Just seems a little…” Lucina searched for the word. “Saccharine for you.”

“Lucina, the Winter Solstice is the best time of the year. Everyone knows that.”

Lucina stifled another laugh. “Really? I figured you’d hate all the artificial bull-crap.”

Kjelle’s voice snaked out from under the tree. “I think you’re severely underestimating her love of stupid cheesy traditions.”

Severa thumped her leg with her boot. “They’re not stupid, they’re fun! And besides, think about it - this is peak shopping season, Lucina. I can go to the mall as much as I want and no one thinks anything of it. There are sales everywhere! It’s the best time for buying and getting gifts! It’s like…it’s like competitive shopping season!” Severa lifted her thermos in triumph. “I __always__  give the best gifts every year, because I’m the most thoughtful.”

“Is that true?” Lucina asked, directing her question tree-ward.

The sound of sawing stopped. “Yeah, she’s pretty good.”

“See? Told you.”

Kjelle crawled out from under the tree and wiped sap on her jacket. “Sev, didn’t you get your step-dad a pair of socks last year?”

Severa shrugged. “He’s on the naughty list. Can’t be helped.”

Kjelle and Lucina shared a meaningful look and Lucina burst out laughing.

“So you’d better be good, right, kiddo?” Severa ruffled Morgan’s hair. “So Saint Tiki brings you lots of gifts!”

Morgan stared at her.

“Does she…does she even __know__  about Tiki?”

Lucina shrugged. “I mean like, on posters and signs and TV and stuff, but…”

“WHAT?! SHE-”

“Okay, come on, Sev,” Kjelle batted her arm. “Help me carry this fuckin’- oh, shit, I mean…fuck. Just help me with this tree, okay?”

By the time they had begun trudging back to the car, the snow had kicked up into a steady downfall of flakes and a thick coating of fresh powder on the ground. It was getting hard to walk - Severa kept stumbling and making remarks about getting her designer snowboots all muddy, at which point Kjelle dryly explained that that was in fact the purpose of boots. Morgan had grown tired and cranky and Lucina carried her while she chewed on the outside of her mittens. Kjelle was doing most of the work, as usual, having lifted the tree over her shoulders, and Lucina finally asked the question that had been nagging her all afternoon.

“Wait, Sev, is this tree for me?”

“Huh? Yeah, obviously,” Severa kicked a clump of snow. “That’s why it had to be perfect.”

“I thought you said the two of you got a tree every year. Are you going to do this again?”

Kjelle sighed deeply and positioned the tree on her shoulders. “That’s tomorrow’s plan.”

 

-

 

Lucina didn’t think the tree was even going to __fit__  in her apartment, but fit it did - crammed between the TV and the radiator, in the far corner opposite the front door. It was a thing of beauty - or, at least, Severa insisted it was. To Lucina, it was a mess of sap and pine needles that she worked very hard to keep out of Morgan’s hair and mouth, but even so, she had crawled into the branches after only a few minutes without supervision, so Lucina sat her on the counter and tried to wash the sap from her hair while Kjelle and Severa argued about exact positioning.

It was the first day of December and Lucina was already exhausted.

 

 

16 Days Till Solstice

Severa leaned against her shopping cart and scowled. She checked her list.

“Severa, I’m __begging__ you,” Kjelle said with a groan. “Please, please, please just pick one.”

“It’s an important decision!”

“It’s really not.”

They had been shopping for six hours and Kjelle was ready for the sweet embrace of death. How or why she put up with it, she wasn’t quite sure. But as Severa knelt in front of the shelf and compared two nigh-identical products for what surely must have been the hundredth time that day, she closed her eyes and reminded herself that it was once a year. Just once a year.

“This one is definitely nicer,” Severa said, rolling the box over in her hands. “But it’s also more expensive.”

“Yes, that is how prices tend to go,” Kjelle sighed.

“But I don’t want it to be __too__  nice, y’know? Like, I know Noire doesn’t have a lot of money and I don’t want her to feel obligated to get me something nice.”

“Just…ugh, okay, just get the expensive one and say it’s from both of us, then.”

Satisfied, Severa dropped the box into her cart, where it landed with a soft clatter among the pile of gifts for friends and family. She pulled out her list again and crossed off Noire’s name. “Okay, shopping for Noire all done. Next…mom.”

“Severa…” Kjelle put her head down on the cart’s handle. “I can’t do this. I’m sorry. I love you so much. You know I love you. But I would rather die than watch you shop for your mom.”

Severa frowned at the full cart. “Hm…yeah, I shouldn’t get her something from a department store anyway. She deserves something nicer than that, especially if I’m going to give it to her on our fancy night out.”

Kjelle pushed the rattling cart thought the store as they chatted.

“Are you really going to get her something stupidly nice just to flex on your mom?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Severa flipped a tail of hair over her shoulder. “I talked to my boss and got us reservations at that super fancy place downtown - you know that nice Plegian place? The one with the balcony out over the river?”

“Holy shit, Sev.”

“Yeah, my boss’s brother apparently has business dinners there all the time, so she got me a reservation.”

“I can’t imagine your step-dad is allowed to come to this dinner.”

“Nope!” Severa smirked. “This is a mommy-daughter only event.”

“Please don’t say it like that,” Kjelle groaned.

“What about you guys? Are you doing anything for the holidays?”

“Yeah, my mom wants me to spend the solstice up on the farm,” Kjelle replied. “So you know what that means - a solid week of six a.m. wakeup calls and shoveling out the barn.”

“Ouch.”

“It’ll be nice to see the folks, though. I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve been up to visit.”

“Yeah, that’ll be great. Tell Sully I say hey when you go.”

“It’s so weird that you call my mom by her first name.”

“She insisted on it! I tried calling her Mrs. Soiree and she just about kicked my ass, remember? Thought she was gonna suplex me into the coffee table or something.”

Kjelle laughed. “Yeah, she’s never been much for the formalities.”

“Oh, shit!” Severa froze. “Fuck, I gotta get Sully something! Quick, what does your mom like?”

Kjelle clapped her on the shoulder. “Don’t stress about it, Sev. Just get her a gift card or something.”

“Okay,” Severa nodded.

For all of Severa’s love of the holiday season, Kjelle always got the feeling it was a manic sort of love, the kind that stirred up anxiety and uncertainty within her. It was the season of giving and getting gifts, and a season of home, and hearth, and family. And for Severa, the line between joy and misery was at its thinnest at this precarious time, the veil between emotions like the veil between worlds on that upcoming, moonless winter night. In plainer terms, she probably would have less panic attacks in the checkout lane if she didn’t accidentally put all of her stock in her self-worth into her ability to please other people with good gifts and her ability to measure their love with what she received.

“Really, Sev,” Kjelle patted her head softly. “It’s not a big deal. And you’d __better not__  be getting me anything, either.”

Severa scowled and checked her list before clutching it close to her chest. “…I…wasn’t going to.”

“Okay, well at least make it food, or something __easy__. You don’t need to stress out about this stuff.”

Severa nodded and prodded the shopping cart. “God, and I haven’t even __started__  shopping for Luci and Morgan yet. What the hell do you even get a four year old?”

“A knife?” Kjelle suggested, helping unload the cart onto the checkout conveyor.

“No, not a knife!” Severa scowled.

“I dunno, books? Toys? What’s she into?”

“She really likes space and stuff,” Severa explained, tugging a brand-new coffeemaker out of the cart. “And she’s into all of those educational kids shows. At least, that’s all Lucina lets her watch.”

“How about…uh…” Kjelle frowned and took a thick, hardcover book out of the cart. “ _ _Dungeon Master’s Gui__ …?” she read from the cover. “Sev, can you tell me who the hell this is for so I can shove them in a locker?”

Severa sighed and took it from her. “It’s for Owain. I feel bad because I spilled soda all over his last one and now the cleric pages all stick together.”

“Oh, it’s that nerd crap,” Kjelle said. “I didn’t think you guys still played that.”

“Noire does like, every week. I show up sometimes when they need a pinch rogue.”

“I don’t even know what that means.”

Severa scowled. “It’s a sports reference! You should get that! You play sports!”

 

-

 

Lucina stretched her legs and rested back against a shelf of printers. She fussed with the collar of her uniform and adjusted her nametag. It had been a long morning - somehow, not even office supply stores were immune to the influx of customers during the holiday season, and now the only respite she seemed to find was hiding back among the stacks of expensive electronics when she was supposed to be restocking the stationery. She sighed and took a moment to close her eyes. Her intermittent headaches still hadn’t gone away, and if nothing else, they seemed to be getting worse. Maybe she was allergic to pine or something. She felt herself dozing off, but was powerless to actually stop it from happening.

Her head flopped back, made contact with a printer, and she snorted and jerked her head forward. She checked her watch then poked her head out of the aisle to peer around the store. There was a long line up front, which seemed to be occupying her managers, so she sat down and let her head rest against the shelf while she closed her eyes.

Lucina hated the holiday season - it made her jobs so much more stressful, it made getting Morgan to daycare harder and more expensive, and for some reason it seemed to turn everyone in the retail sphere into a raving lunatic. Her back had been sore walking into work, and her worn shoes provided little in the way of support. But she could doze off in the printer aisle, and that was sometimes enough. She had tried dozing in one of the sample office chairs, but it was too public to get away with for long.

A hand settled on her leg and Lucina jolted upright, smacking her forehead on a sale sign. “Ah, sorry!” she muttered quickly. “Sorry, I -”

“Woah, it’s okay!” Severa pulled back. “Sorry for the sudden wake-up, but it’s good timing because I think some other workers are headed this way.”

“Mmn,” Lucina nodded and yawned. “Sev? What are you…” she yawned again. “What are you even doing here?”

“I need something really shitty for my step-dad. Where do you keep your staplers?”

“Uh…” Lucina blinked sleepily. “Aisle 2.”

“Can you show me where that is?” Severa smiled smugly, offering a hand for Lucina to take. “I can’t read so I need a guide to walk me through every section of the store, please.”

Lucina graciously accepted her hand and stood on two sore, wobbly legs. “I’d love to, but I probably should do my actual work.” Her mouth felt thick and gummy and she looked at her watch. How long had she been asleep?

“Aw, boo,” Severa pouted. “Well, can I at least distract you for a few minutes?”

“Yeah, sure,” Lucina smoothed out her hair and adjusted her nametag again.

“What does Morgan want for the solstice?”

“Huh?” Lucina frowned.

“Y’know, what gifts does she want? Books, toys?”

“I…” Lucina pressed a hand to her chest and stifled a cough. “Sev, we really don’t have the money for-”

“It’s all on me, promise.”

“No, I couldn’t possibly-”

Severa pressed a finger to Lucina’s dry lips. “Shh. It’s fine, I promise.” She smirked. “But that’s your homework for tonight - I want you and Morgan to both write a letter to Saint Tiki with the things you want!”

“Sev…” Lucina wasn’t sure if she was serious or not.

 

-

 

She was. Severa brought a toolbox over to the apartment and tinkered with the radiator while Lucina and Morgan sat around the dining room table with sheets of paper, stickers, and crayons.

Lucina felt a little bit silly, a stubby red crayon on her hand and a blank sheet before her. Morgan had wasted no time getting to work and had already drawn a little green dragon at the top of her paper, followed by the beginnings of a wonky list of 4-year-old attempts to spell things. Lucina leaned over and helped her properly spell “blankie”.

“You too,” Severa said, kissing Lucina on the top of the head as she passed. “I want at least a few things on that list.”

Lucina sighed and pressed her crayon to the paper.

What did she want? Other than the obvious - money, food, comfort, stability. But those weren’t exactly things you could stick a bow on and slide under the tree. She didn’t want much - Morgan’s happiness, above all else, and beyond that Severa’s. But she hadn’t thought of herself in such a way for a long, long time. Did they sell gift cards to daycares? Probably not. You can’t giftwrap a nap on the couch, or a home-cooked dinner. Severa already gave her everything she could possibly want - more than that, Severa gave her a family. When she was there, Lucina really felt comfortable, more comfortable than she had in years.

So rather than a list of thing she wanted, she began to write a letter of sorts - a thank you to Saint Tiki for the blessings in her life, for her wonderful, beautiful child and her amazing girlfriend whom she loved so very much. And then she folded up her letter, stuck it in an envelope, put a sticker on it, and addressed it to the Great Mila Tree before helping Morgan finish hers up.

 

10 Days Till Solstice

God, Lucina was in love. She chewed thoughtfully on a cookie, marveling at it. How Severa was such a jack-of-all-trades, she’d never know. But the apartment was full to the brim with the smell of baking cookies and steaming hot chocolate, and the radiator sent a warm bubble of heat rippling out into the cold living room. Morgan was curled up on the couch under a blanket, her little thumbs working through a board book Severa had brought over - something from her childhood, some children’s rendition of the Tiki myth. Of the mysterious dragon prophet who awoke from her long slumber on the first day of winter, whose feathery wings brought joy and hope to a desperate people. Or, more accurately, the version of the myth where Tiki flew across the sky to bring gifts to good little boys and girls.

Lucina took another bite of cookie.

“Good?” Severa looked up from the stove, having just pulled out another tray. She looked so…un-Severa-like in her silly hand-me-down apron and big oven mitts.

“Delicious,” Lucina said, half-smiling, wiping the crumbs from her mouth with a free hand.

“Good, because I did the math wrong and made two batches of these suckers, and Kjelle will kill me if I keep cookies around the house.”

“Oh?” Lucina leaned back in her chair.

“Yeah, she’s got no impulse control.” Severa worked a spatula under a cookie and pried it from its pan. “She’ll eat whatever I have around.”

“I wondered if she only put up with you because of your cooking,” Lucina teased.

“Well, that and I’m the only one that keeps the apartment running. Without me it’d be trash all over the floor and dishes piled in the sink.”

“Well, she’s very lucky to have you.”

Severa wiped crumbs from her apron and marched across the kitchen, discarding her oven mitts as she went. She cupped Lucina’s chin with both hands and pulled her into a slow, tender kiss. “I’m not hers.”

Lucina kissed her again, reaching up to tug her head down with equal vigor.

“You taste like gingerbread,” Severa says softly.

“You taste like chocolate.”

“Ew!!!” Morgan cried, standing up and leaning over the back of the couch to gawk at them. “Mamas kissing!!!”

Severa smirked and pressed Lucina’s cheek against her own. “Hey Morgan, did you know that I kiss your mom __so much__?” To illustrate her point, she pressed her lips against Lucina’s cheek, and then against her lips.

Morgan shrieked and bounced up and down on the back of the couch.

“It’s cause I love her __sooooo__  much,” Severa kissed Lucina again. “And I love you so much, too! So you get kisses!” She leaped towards the couch and half-tackled Morgan to the blankets, tickling her while she squirmed and giggled.

Lucina fought back her own giggles, pressing a hand to her lips while she watched Morgan wriggling and squealing in Severa’s grip like a greased sea lion. Severa wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tight, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“You want some cookies?” Severa let her go.

“COOKIE!” Morgan cried, squirming out of the blankets and plopping to the floor. “COOKIE!!”

Severa looked up over the back of the couch. “Does mama want to bring us some cookies?”

 

-

 

Lucina hated holiday movies. She didn’t think she did - she remembered being sort of neutral on them throughout her childhood, but she could barely make it through one children’s special before needing to excuse herself to the bedroom. She was crying when Severa knocked softly on the door.

“It’s so stupid,” she said, pressing her face into her tearstained pillow. “It’s just a stupid kids show! It’s about a stupid little dragon!” She burst into another fit of sobs.

Severa whispered softly in her ear, stroking her hair and holding her while she cried.

“I…I just miss them,” Lucina said quietly, her voice hoarse. She coughed and sputtered before the tears started again. “I…” she choked back a sob. “I miss my dad, and-and-and, and I miss my bed, and-” she broke down on Severa’s shoulder. “Seeing that stupid dragon cartoon…”

“Shh,” Severa said quietly. She ran her hand along Lucina’s spine, trying to rub comfort and warmth into her shuddering, heaving frame. “Shh, it’s okay. It’s okay.”

“I’m s-sorry,” Lucina whispered back. “I’m s-sorry…”

“Don’t apologize,” Severa kissed her forehead and wiped her cheeks with the sleeves of her flannel pajamas. “Shh…you don’t need to apologize for anything.”

Lucina’s tears subsided, eventually, and she lay in quiet silence, wrapped in blankets, sitting against the headboard in the dark. Severa got up to put Morgan to bed and when she came back, Lucina was still sniffling and blowing her nose. “I’m sorry,” she said again, more clearly. “It’s…” she shook her head. “It’s been a long day. Week. Whatever.”

Severa slipped under the covers at her side and wrapped her arms around her, tugging her into a firm, soft embrace. “It’s okay. I’m sorry, I…I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s so stupid,” Lucina reached a flailing hand for a tissue box on the beside table and blew her nose again. “It’s just a stupid kids’ movie.”

“It’s not stupid if it means something to you,” Severa took her free hand and squeezed it.

“It’s…” Lucina blinked. “I’m sorry, it’s just…I didn’t…I never thought this would…” She began coughing into the blanket and didn’t stop until Severa patted her back. She wiped her lips. “I…I never really thought Morgan would…would have a solstice like this.” She blinked back tears and nuzzled Severa’s shoulder. “W-we didn’t…she was too young to r-r-remember, but we spent her second solstice in a hotel room. I don’t even remember her first.” She curled her fingers into a desperate fist clutching at Severa’s shirt. “I never had enough money, and the holidays were always so terrible…”

Severa kissed her and held her tightly.

“I…” Lucina shook her head. “I just never thought about the future, but…” She broke into a sob. “Seeing you playing with her, and hanging the stupid stockings over the busted radiator, and just…” she brought her trembling hands to Severa’s face. “What did I do, Severa? What did I do?”

“What?” Severa lifted a hand and took Lucina’s.

“Because I had to have done something to deserve you. B-because I don’t. I couldn’t possibly. Y-y-you’ve given me so much, and…” she coughed. “I don’t have anything. I can’t get you anything for solstice, and I-”

“Shhh,” Severa shushed her, kissing her. “Shut up, you dolt.” She kissed her again, and again. “Don’t you even think about getting me anything.”

“I’m so useless,” Lucina cried. “I can’t do anything, I can’t-”

Severa rolled over, tugging her tightly and pressing their lips together. “I said __shh__ ,” she whispered before diving in for another kiss. She tried her damnedest to smother Lucina’s pain, her sorrow, her guilt, and her grief. She kissed her, again and again, her gentle hands stroking her hair and holding her arms and touching her cheeks, her chin, her sternum. Severa kissed her and pulled back.

“You’ve given me so much, Lucina. You and Morgan mean the world to me.”

Lucina nodded and sniffled.

“You know, I read your stupid letter.” Severa laughed, wiping her own eyes. “I started crying in the middle of a stupid coffeeshop.”

Lucina laughed through her tears.

“I was making a shopping list to get Morgan and you what you wanted, and I just started bawling while waiting for my latte, so I hope you’re happy.”

“I am,” Lucina said quietly, curling up against her and resting in her embrace. “I really, really am.”

 

3 Days Till Solstice

Severa smirked. “Go on, open it.”

Cordelia reached across the table and squinted. She picked up the small gift-wrapped box and gently shook it.

“Don’t shake it, it’s fragile.”

“Well, then how am I supposed to guess what it is?”

“You’re not supposed to guess! God, it’s a surprise!”

Cordelia smiled softly, setting it aside. “Okay, okay. I must admit, it’s a bit smaller than I had expected.”

“Well, I did get you __this__ ,” Severa said, gesturing to the air around them. In Severa’s defense, it was beautiful - probably the most beautiful restaurant Severa had ever been in. As advertised, it overlooked the river downtown, offering a gorgeous skyline view of the entire city as it glowed in the golden orange of sunset on glass and snow. And Severa gawked at the menus - she was known to splurge here and there, but this was something else entirely. Her mom had __better__ love her.

“You did,” Cordelia said, picking up her own menu. She thumbed through it, humming softly. “You know, I always did want to go here. I kept asking the partners if they could get a table for meetings, but - “

“Yeah, well __my__  boss’s brother knows someone, or something. So she got us a table!”

“And so close to the solstice, too!” Cordelia whistled, genuinely impressed. Severa’s heart sang.

Because the solstice wasn’t just about giving gifts - it was about giving __better__  gifts; showing up your parents and the rest of your family with your thoughtfulness and extravagance. And nothing mattered more to her than being able to show how much she loved her mother and hated every other single member of her family. Not that she’d let that bitterness show - it was the holidays, after all. And the holidays are about gifts given through gritted teeth just as much as they are about gifts given through the complex love of motherly validation.

“Come on, open it!” Severa beamed.

“Okay, okay.” Cordelia unpeeled the wrapping paper slowly, painfully slowly by Severa’s measure. She was neat and meticulous in this, as in all things, careful not to tear the paper or leave excess trash. She unwrapped it and found herself holding a sturdy wooden case. She frowned and unlatched it. “Glasses?”

“You’ve been wearing that same pair for years, mom! Remember last summer when the left lens popped out? And I know the left side is all dented because you keep setting your briefcase on it.”

Cordelia smiled and pulled out the pair of glasses. They were nearly identical to the pair she wore, but, true, considerably less careworn. She took off her glasses and folded them in the case to replace them with her new pair. She blinked and peered around the restaurant.

“Do you like it?”

“I love it,” Cordelia said, reaching across the table and squeezing Severa’s hand. “Thank you, really.” She blinked again. “Wow, these really are nicer.”

“Jeez, of course they are! I got your prescription updated, too, because you’re like eighty years old and you never do that stuff!”

“Thank you, Severa,” Cordelia smiled. “Do you want your gift now?”

“No, no, no, wait!” Severa leaned over the side of the table. “Lucina and Morgan also wanted to get you something.” She pulled out another gift, this time a little more haphazardly wrapped in old newsprint. She slid it across the table. “I don’t know what it is, though, so…y’know. It’s probably not as good as mine.”

“I’ll be sure to thank them the next time I see them.” Cordelia began unwrapping the gift slowly, and even before Severa could see what it was, a smile graced Cordelia’s lips.

Severa stared with mounting horror. __Oh no, it’s definitely better than my gift. Oh, no.__

It was, in fact, of another category entirely - a handmade frame constructed of craft materials, of glitter glue and macaroni noodles and little shiny stickers, with a crayon-scribbled caption beneath a polaroid photo: __Mama, Me, Sev__. Cordelia giggled and covered her mouth with her hand.

Severa’s heart melted, but not in the way she had expected. She almost started crying then and there, and likely would have had their food not arrived at that minute. Severa choked back tears and nodded to their server vaguely.

Cordelia stared at the gift with a burning intensity that surprised Severa - a smoldering, delicate love that had her transfixed. She neatly wrapped the picture back up and tucked it into her purse. “Thank you, Severa. And please, tell them that I love it so much.”

“Of course.”

“Well,” Cordelia said, clearing her throat and wiping her eyes. “I suppose you’d like your gift now?”

“Oh, mother dearest, you know the only gift that I want is that of your company,” Severa said, desperately trying to wind a piece of pasta around her fork.

“Oh, well I’ll just take this back, then,” Cordelia smirked, tucking her purse away.

“H-hey!” Severa pouted.

“I’m kidding, dear.” Cordelia pulled out her own gift. She slid it across the table, completing their annual ritualistic exchange. The table was set. The pieces were down.

Severa tore into the packaging with abandon. It could be literally anything - jewelry, makeup, or even - she stared at the object in her hands. It was a small plastic thing, a shallow tray of bright colors and plastic snaps. She shook it and it rattled.

“A…pencil case?”

“For Morgan, when she starts school this fall,” Cordelia said. “I know you always scoff when I try to get you things, so I thought I might get you something you can give her.” She reached across the table and opened it. “See? It’s got a little space for crayons and pencils and an eraser, and some extra space that I put some stickers in. Also that little plastic dragon that I found in your old toybox.”

Severa bit back a sob but the tears were already dripping.

God dammit. Outdone yet again.

 

Solstice Eve

Lucina and Severa sat together on a bench, Morgan sandwiched between them, her tiny little fingers wrapped around a steaming paper cup of hot chocolate.

“Okay, be careful,” Lucina said, helping her lift it to her lips. “Drink slow, okay? It’s still a little warm.”

“I tried telling them to make it cooler,” Severa said. She reached an arm around Morgan’s shoulder and squeezed her. “But be careful, okay Morgy?”

Lucina leaned back against the bench and exhaled. It was a cold evening, the second darkest night of the year. The sky was already plunged into an inky black above the skyscrapers that towered above them. When the temperature dropped low enough, an ice skating rink was set up down town, a long winding track that wrapped around the biggest solstice tree in the city - or so it billed itself. Lucina wasn’t sure if that was true, but what was true was that the way Morgan’s eyes sparkled with wonder when she looked at it made the long trek downtown worth it. Morgan’s little snow-booted feet bounced against the bench as she sipped her drink and stared at the tree towering above, decorated with sparkling ribbons of lights and bulbs and decorations of all sorts.

The plaza shone with dazzling multicolored lights, the air was alive with the chatter of crowds and the sound of holiday music, and Severa slipped her hand into Lucina’s and squeezed tightly.

They had spent the evening ice skating, but, as with all activities performed by a four-year-old child, the evening had quickly devolved into cries of cranky irritation and restless groans. Her short little legs did so much work just to carry her across the rink, so before long Lucina resorted to scooping her up and carrying her back towards the train station bound for home.

Lucina and Severa sat next to each other, heads resting against the window, staring out at the city rushing by, at the people and the lights and the apartment buildings in which they could see even more trees and decorations and displays of garish color. Severa murmured half-hearted apologies in Lucina’s ear and kissed her softly.

“Yeah, sorry,” Severa said sheepishly, sticking her hands in her pockets. She smiled weakly. “Family stuff. Mom wants me to spend Solstice Eve with her and my step-dad and stuff, so…” She shrugged. “Sorry.”

Lucina tried not to let her disappointment show. She smoothed back Morgan’s hair and nodded. “Yeah, it’s okay. I understand.”

“It’s okay!” Severa forced a smile. “I’ll be over first thing tomorrow morning, okay?”

“Yeah.” Lucina hooked her arm around Severa’s and twined their fingers together. “Sorry.”

Severa leaned across the seat and pressed her lips into Lucina’s cheek. “It’s okay. Promise. First thing.”

The train ride seemed painfully slow to Lucina, doubly so after Severa got off at her stop. Morgan rested in Lucina’s lap, sleeping, making tiny blurbs and gurgles whenever the train hit a bend in the tracks and rattled. Lucina held her tight, closing her eyes and focusing on the sensations around her. The feel of Morgan’s feathery hair, the scent of her jacket, a mingling smell of department-store-new and fresh-fallen snow tinged with the scents of downtown city life. Lucina’s chest felt warm, even as her stomach churned. She had wanted to spend the night with Severa - well, of course she had. She had wanted to spend every night with Severa since they had met. But the bed would be even lonelier tonight than before. Maybe Morgan would be too excited about the coming holiday to sleep and the two of them could curl up in bed together.

They got off at their stop and Morgan snuffled quietly as they walked home through the snow, using one mittened hand to wipe her drippy nose.

Their apartment felt quiet and lonesome. Lucina helped Morgan unzip her jacket and unlace her boots and leave them dripping with snow by the door, and she sat on the couch and stared sadly at the tree in the corner. They had decorated it weeks before, with silly little things Morgan helped make and packs of store-bought ornaments and strings of colorful lights, but Lucina couldn’t help but feel of pang of guilt and sadness at it. It seemed to out of place among the dented radiator and the cracked edging and the peeling wallpaper. She wrapped a blanket around Morgan and turned the tree’s lights on.

It was late, probably too late for Morgan to still be up, but she needed a bath and Lucina couldn’t find the strength to get up from the couch, so they sat huddled together while Morgan pawed sleepily at a board book. Lucina dozed on the armrest, trying so very hard not to think about what her father was doing, and whether or not he was thinking of her, too.

Lucina hated the holidays.

She wasn’t sure how long she had been sleeping, but her neck felt stiff and sore and Morgan was snoring loudly in her lap when there came a knock at the door.

Lucina rubbed her eyes and stretched.

Another knock. Morgan woke up, too, blinking sleepily and crawling across the couch. She turned to stare at Lucina.

“Tiki,” she said.

Lucina smiled and ruffled her hair. No, probably not. It was maybe the landlord - he sometimes showed up at weird times like this, and he might have a card for them or something. Lucina hauled herself off the couch and towards the front door.

She was shocked to find that, standing on her porch, was in fact the spitting image of Saint Tiki, resplendent in all of her draconic glory.

Lucina blinked.

Tiki didn’t usually have stark red hair.

“Severa, what are you doing on my porch?” She squinted. “What are you __wearing__?”

“Severa? Who’s Severa?” Severa said in a poor imitation of a thick accent. “I am Lady Tiki, the prophet of Naga, and I heard a good little girl lived at this house!”

Lucina let out a snort and nearly collapsed against the doorway in a fit of laughter. “Oh, god, S-Sev…” she tried and failed to turn her laughter into a fake cough. “I m-mean, of course you are! Now, I don’t know about any good little girls who live at __this__ house!” She wiped tears from her eyes and slipped through the doorway for Morgan to see.

“TIKI!!!!!!” Morgan shrieked, bounding off of the couch and towards the door.

Because Morgan was four, and Severa’s costume was ridiculous, and who else would show up at the crack of midnight in such silly attire? It had to be the saint herself.

Lucina gawked at the authenticity of the attire. Severa was decked from head to toe in elegant red velvet lined with swirls of pink and gold - a red minidress that was, frankly, scandalously short, a thick velvet cloak lined with soft white down, and, the pièce de résistance - the hood of the cloak formed into a hat of draconic visage, the top of the mouth extending out over Severa’s brow like soft fanged velvet. She looked…well, Lucina thought she looked quite ridiculous.

But she did have a bag slung over her shoulder, a heavy leather pack filled to bursting with wrapped boxes of all shapes and sizes.

“Well, come in then, __Lady Tiki__ ,” Lucina said, gesturing for Severa - ahem, for __Tiki__  to enter.

“Tiki!” Morgan cried again, and she ran in circles around the couch as fast as her stubby little legs would carry her.

Lucina hid a smile under her hand and whispered a soft “thank you” as Severa unloaded her pack. She crouched down and stopped Morgan’s frantic circles with an outstretched arm.

“Now, have you been a good girl?”

Morgan nodded. “Yes!”

“All year long?”

“Uh-huh!” Morgan stuck her thumb in her mouth.

“What about when your mama told you not to suck your thumb?”

Morgan gasped and took her hand out of her mouth to hide it behind her back.

Severa rested a hand on Morgan’s shoulder. “Have you been taking good care of your mama?”

Morgan nodded. “Yes!! I’m good!”

“Do you have milk and cookies for me?”

“Mama!” Morgan cried. “Mama, milk and cookie!”

“Okay, okay,” Lucina smiled, making her way towards the cupboard. She pulled out a plate and spread Severa’s cookies across it before pouring a big glass of milk. “Is this good?”

Morgan toddled across the living room and took the plate, ferrying it between the two women as if she were bearing a gift from the goddess herself. “Cookies!”

Severa crunched on a cookie and began opening her bag of gifts. “Now, do you want to be my little helper and put these presents under the tree?”

Morgan got to work without a second’s thought, taking the colorful assortment of wrapped packages and ferrying them between the gaudy visitor and their tree. Lucina reached into the gift bag and took out a box clearly addressed to her. She traced the name-tag with her finger.

“I thought I told you not to get me anything.”

“Yeah, well, too bad,” Severa said, headbutting her lightly with her ridiculous dragon hat. “I love you, dolt.”

Lucina nudged her. “Did you take the train in that thing?”

“What? Oh, hell no. Kjelle dropped me off outside.”

Lucina burst out laughing. “Okay, for a second I thought I’d been seeing my girlfriend’s face plastered all over the news for getting mugged in a Tiki costume or something.”

“Yeah, the walk from the curb to your door was terrifying.”

“Cold?”

“Oh, yeah. The wind really cuts __right__  up the skirt, lemme tell you.”

Lucina kissed her softly.

When she pulled pack, she saw Morgan staring up with wide-eyed shock.

“M-Mama!” she cried, pointing.

Lucina and Severa made eye contact.

“I’m gonna tell Mama Sev!” Morgan shrieked.

“Do it,” Severa stuck her tongue out. “Go ahead, see what she does!”

“You’re lucky Tiki’s known for being mischievous,” Lucina smirked, nudging her.

“Now, you gotta be a good girl and wait till tomorrow morning to open your presents,” Severa knelt down and patted Morgan’s head. “So run off and go get ready for bed, okay, sweetie?”

Morgan nodded and did as requested.

“And what about Saint Tiki?” Lucina asked, taking her hand. “Is she going to be staying the night as well?”

“Mmm…” Severa wrapped her arms around Lucina and kissed her tenderly. “I…” she frowned. “Shit, I forgot to bring a change of clothes.”

“Your pajamas are in the dresser,” Lucina kissed her again, more desperately, tugging her close. “You already left once today, don’t you dare try to get out a second time.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Severa smiled, reaching up and tugging her hood down. She kissed Lucina again.

 

Winter Solstice

 

Lucina was the last to crawl into bed, snaking her way past pillows and bedsheets and nestling herself against Severa’s warm, delicate frame. She had cast off her festive attire in favor of flannel pajamas and thick wool socks, and her arms were clasped around a tiny, sleeping Morgan. Lucina kissed both of them; Morgan on the head and Severa on the lips, before rolling over and snuffing out the light. It was a cold room, dark and drafty, but under the sheets and blankets Lucina couldn’t have been happier. She wrapped her arms around Severa and curled up flush against her, and she closed her eyes, listening to the soft snoring of her - no, __their__  daughter. Severa rolled over, half-asleep, and made an inquisitive hum.

“I love you,” Lucina said softly.

Because she did - unquestionably, unflinchingly. The solstice, the darkest and longest night of the year, burned brightly with the warmth of hearth and home, of colorful gifts wrapped and piled beneath a dazzling tree, of hot cocoa and pancake breakfasts and soft pajamas and kisses and hugs, and Lucina’s heart caught in her throat. It wasn’t a pang of sadness or of loneliness; she wasn’t alone, not anymore. She had a family of her own, a beautiful daughter and a loving girlfriend and all the things she could ever want, curled up together in her rickety box-spring bed.

She rolled over and stared out the window, through the slatted blinds at the snow swirling in the street outside. And she closed her eyes and let herself fall into a deep, restful slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays! Can you believe I've been writing fic for almost exactly two years. Wild. This is a bit of an anniversary project because one of my oldest fics is also a holiday fic about Severa, so...that's a strange coincidence. Anyway, hope you enjoyed!

**Author's Note:**

> Blame @detectiveroboryan for making me fall in love with Lucisev+Baby Morgan, and also blame him for feeding into this by letting me ramble at him about this AU constantly. Go read Antebellum.
> 
> Edit: Hey! The very cool and talented cloudyuri on tumblr did some amazing art for this fic! Check it out here! http://cloudyuri.tumblr.com/post/173312925717
> 
> Double Edit: God I realized I never put my info in here. If you like my words, I take commissions! You can email me at cowboysneep@gmail.com or shoot me a message at lucisevofficial.tumblr.com to discuss!


End file.
